Why did I read this book?

I read The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon, and loved it. (Click on the title to read my review of that book and scoll down a bit.) Also, years ago I read an article about the Halifax explosion, and I wanted to learn more about it. For those of you who read my blog regularly, you know I have a thing for shipwreck disasters. This one is unique because when the Mont-Blanc exploded, more than one square mile of land in and around Halifax was leveled.

What is this book about?

In December 1917, World War I raged in Europe. The unprecedented scale of the Great War created an insatiable hunger for soldiers, weapons, and other materials, many of which funneled through the Port of Halifax in Canada before sailing to Europe. In November 1917, Lenin told the Russian people their country would soon withdraw from the war. The Allies knew the Germans could then shift their troops and supplies from the Eastern Front to the Western Front. In an attempt to fend off the impending German onslaught on the Western Front, the Allies increased shipments of weapons and soldiers to Europe. In doing so, they began to employ substandard ships, like the Mont-Blanc, then precariously overload them with volatile explosives. In order to move shipments quickly, certain safeguards in Halifax Harbor were relaxed, creating a mentality that put speed and tonnage above safety. And for a while, they got away with it.

But on December 6, 1917, a combination of arrogance, lack of communication, and disregard for safety regulations resulted in the most destructive human-made explosion ever experienced, one that wouldn’t be surpassed until the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. The explosion killed about 2,000 people, wounded another 9,000 people, and left nearly 25,000 people with either severely damaged homes or no homes at all.

Why did I like this book?

Bacon skillfully grapples with an overwhelming large-scale catastrophe that impacted about 40,000 people. The noise and aftershocks of the explosion were felt up to two hundred miles away. And while Bacon clearly describes the enormity of the disaster, the aspects that led to it, and the massive humanitarian relief efforts that followed, he also creates a narrative that conveys how it impacted individual people.

John Bacon is a wonderful writer. Evidenced by his careful research, it’s obvious that he cares a great deal about this historical tragedy and the people whose lives were forever impacted by it. Even though the explosion occurred over one hundred years ago, Bacon’s book delivers a cautionary tale — a timeless message against arrogance and overconfidence. He also reveals that in the face of an overwhelming calamity, people put aside their differences and pulled together in an uplifting story of humanity.

[Note: To read more about John U. Bacon and other nonfiction books written by him, including books about sports, click here.]