From New York Times bestselling author John U. Bacon, a gripping narrative history of the largest manmade detonation prior to Hiroshima: in 1917 a ship laden with the most explosives ever packed on a vessel sailed out of Brooklyn's harbor for the battlegrounds of World War I; when it stopped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, an extraordinary disaster awaited. . . .
On Monday, December 3, 1917, the French freighter SS Mont-Blanc set sail from Brooklyn carrying the largest cache of explosives ever loaded onto a ship, including 2,300 tons of picric acid, an unstable, poisonous chemical more powerful than TNT. The U.S. had just recently entered World War I, and the ordnance was bound for the battlefields of France, to help the Allies break the grueling stalemate that had protracted the fighting for nearly four demoralizing years. The explosives were so dangerous that Captain Aimé Le Medec took unprecedented safety measures, including banning the crew from smoking, lighting matches, or even touching a drop of liquor.
Sailing north, the Mont-Blanc faced deadly danger, enduring a terrifying snowstorm off the coast of Maine and evading stealthy enemy U-boats hunting the waters of the Atlantic. But it was in Nova Scotia that an extraordinary disaster awaited. As the Mont-Blanc waited to dock in Halifax, it was struck by a Norwegian relief ship, the Imo, charging out of port. A small fire on the freighter's deck caused by the impact ignited the explosives below, resulting in a horrific blast that, in one fifteenth of a second, leveled 325 acres of Halifax--killing more than 1,000 people and wounding 9,000 more.
In this definitive account, Bacon combines research and eyewitness accounts to re-create the tragedy and its aftermath, including the international effort to rebuild the devastated port city. As he brings to light one of the most dramatic incidents of the twentieth century, Bacon explores the long shadow this first ""weapon of mass destruction"" would cast on the future of nuclear warfare-- crucial insights and understanding relevant to us today.
About the Author :
John U. Bacon is the author of the national bestseller The Great Halifax Explosion and five bestselling books about college football, including Three and Out, Fourth and Long, Endzone, and Bo's Lasting Lessons, co-authored with Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. A former feature writer for the Detroit News, his writing has been recognized three times in The Best American Sports Writing series. He appears often on NPR and national television, including ESPN's 2019 documentary series on college football. He has taught at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and the University of Michigan. A popular public speaker, he lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and son.
Johnny Heller, a Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Award winner, has recorded over one thousand audiobooks in every genre and is a four-time Audie Award winner and a fourteen-time nominee. He was named an Audiofile Best Voice 2009-2011, 2014, and 2015, a Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award winner 2008-2018 and a multiple Booklist Editor's Choice winner, and a 2020 Odyssey Award winner. A winner of over forty Earphone Awards and three SOVAS Awards, Johnny was named one of the top fifty Voices of the 20th Century by Audiofile Magazine.
Review :
"The Great Halifax Explosion is absorbing from first page to last. With deep research and evocative writing, John U. Bacon has brought back to life this devastating wartime event and illuminated its lasting meaning."
-- "David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author"
"Bacon documents the terrifying incident in vivid detail...An absorbing history of disaster and survival."
-- "Kirkus Reviews"
"Fans of Ken Burns, The Boys in the Boat, and John Hersey's Hiroshima will find in John U. Bacon's meticulous reporting a story that literally rocked the world. A gripping, ticktock narrative, this a story with an enormous heart; this is an author with astounding range as a journalist and page-turning storyteller."
-- "Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author"
"In this suspenseful tale of heartbreak and heroism, John U. Bacon deftly re-creates a world at war and sheds new light on one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century. He is clearly the perfect writer for the job, able to keep you awake reading late into the night."
-- "Beth Macy, New York Times bestselling author"
