The Last Day: Wrath, Ruin, and Reason in the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755

Shrady, Nicholas (Author)

ISBN 10: 0143114603 / ISBN 13: 9780143114604

Published by Penguin Books, 2009

About this Item

reprint edition. 256 pages. 8.00x5.50x0.75 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # x-0143114603

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Last Day: Wrath, Ruin, and Reason in the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0143114603
• ISBN 13: 9780143114604
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.21 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 was no run-of-the-mill misfortune-it was a watershed moment that shook the pillars of an inveterate social order and sent reverberations throughout the Western world. Earth, water, wind, and fire all conspired to produce a hellish catastrophe that lasted for a full five days and left Lisbon thoroughly annihilated. Nicholas Shrady's unique account of this first modern disaster and its aftereffects successfully articulates the outcome of the earthquake-the eighteenth-century equivalent of a mass media frenzy giving rise to a host of other fascinating developments, such as disaster preparedness, landmark social reform, urban planning, and the birth of seismology.

About the Author

Nicholas Shrady is the author of Sacred Roads: Adventures from the Pilgrimage Trail. His articles have appeared in Architectural Digest, The New York Times Book Review, Travel & Leisure, Forbes, and Town & Country.