Matthew J. Davenport with The Longest Minute: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 

More than 118 years ago, San Francisco, then the largest city in the Western U.S., shook, crumbled, burned, and was completely devastated in an incomprehensible show of force by nature. In less than a minute, shockwaves shook the city, buckled its streets, shattered water mains, collapsed buildings on slumbering residents, and crushed hundreds. Then came the devastating fires, a second round of destruction that lasted weeks. From archival sources and hundreds of previously unpublished letters, many from private family collections; Matthew J. Davenport weaves a harrowing tale of the fateful day. The Longest Minute is meticulously researched and gracefully written, a harrowing chronicle of devastation, and a portrait of a city’s resilience in the aftermath of the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. Join us to learn more from one of San Francisco Chronicle’s “Favorite Books” of last year!