The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism

Well researched and told with feeling, The Great Halifax Explosion brings to life a critical piece of not just Canadian history, but world history; it’s far-reaching implications touched international relations, disaster relief and preparedness and even what would become the Atomic Age. I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

This is a fascinating true story. Bacon ties together the real life, and terrifying death, stories leading up to then through the great Halifax explosion that destroyed most of Halifax, Nova Scotia in an instant on December 6, 1917.The story as told is both horrifying and uplifting. Any reader should be prepared to be shocked at what happened while simultaneously having faith renewed in humanity’s ability to overcome tragedy beyond imagination.This should be required reading at many school levels.

I read a friends copy and liked it so much, I bought one to loan out to other friends.They all loved it too.The terrible history of the largest man made explosion before the atomic bomb.

If you’ve never heard of the Tragedy in Halifax, Nova Scotia,you must read this book. It’s one of the most fascinating accounts of how a city was leveled and everything in it. It also tells you much history of the people who survived and relations between Canada and the U.S. at that time. One of the best non-fiction books I’ve ever read, and I’m an avid reader. Don’t miss it!

This book arrived promptly and in excellent condition. It's a fascinating read!

I found this book to be quite interesting, I couldn’t put it down. However, I took off one star because there were so many awkward and seemingly unfinished sentences. It really threw me.I am 57, have been an avid reader my whole life, and proofread/edit part-time, so I am pretty sure the issue is not my English skills.Otherwise, the book seems to be well-researched and I liked the way the author tried to flesh out the characters from so long ago. That really helped the reader understand the magnitude of the disaster, and couldn’t have been easy with so much time having elapsed.

I knew nothing about this explosion until last year-such an interesting and overlooked tragedy in North America. The author captured the horror of this event but also the great display of goodness and human decency. Highly recommend.

An immense tragedy befell Halifax, Nova Scotia, on December 6, 1917 when two ships in its harbor collided setting off the greatest explosion the world had ever seen, not exceeded until the atomic bomb of 1945. Much of the city was leveled, over 2000 lives lost, and 9000 wounded. The response and recovery effort were exemplary of courageous local action and international cooperation, solidifying relations between the U.S. and Canada with lasting effects today. This remarkable event remains little known despite several books about it.Bacon's book promises to tell a fascinating tale and bring these events to light, but only partly succeeds. He begins strong with suspenseful descriptions unfolding events that brought the two ships to Halifax harbor, then breaks away to details of an odd character's experiences in World War I trenches in France (Joseph Barss). When he returns to Halifax, long descriptions of its harbor and economy follow. The section dealing with how the two ships collided is riveting. Description of the explosion and its immediate effects is awe-full and terrifying. The narrative bogs down in the aftermath with excessive detail, though often heart-rending. Strangely the book skips too lightly over details of the maritime harbor officials' inquiry into how the accident occurred, and the trials that followed to assign guilt. A deeper examination of this process would aid our understanding, though the scape-goating was obvious from the start. Additional accounts of Barss' later life fill the concluding chapters ( he is featured in another book by the author on founding the University of Michigan hockey program.)An earlier book by Janet Kitz, Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion & the Road to Recovery (1989) is based on her first-hand research and work for the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, where she helped put together the exhibit on the explosion, A Moment in Time. It appears that much of Bacon's information derives from this authoritative book, which he cites along with extensive notes on sources.

I liked the way the author leads up to the disaster. So sorry for the loss of so many people in the "blink of an eye". A true story that had to be told to remind Canadian and Americans of the disaster. Thank you Boston and everyone else who jumped in to help the City of Halifax.A highly recommended read.

We visited Halifax NS in the summer and so wanted to find out more about the 1917 explosion. Considering it was the largest ever man-made explosion until the atomic bombs were dropped it has been surprisingly forgotten. The Penguin History of Canada for example doesn't even mention it. This book does a good job of recreating the events, although I'm not sure why treachery is mentioned In the title - it was all down to incompetence.

Amazing story of mistakes leading to devastation then bringing out the best of humanity in the aftermath. Reoomend to all history students

This is a very well researched and authoritative account of the deadly and destructive Halifax explosion, the worst man made explosion prior to Hiroshima. I thought the first part of the book read too much like a textbook account of historic events. It covered not only the history of Halifax, but history of American/Canadian relations and Canadian history as these connected to Halifax. There was much about Canadians’ involvement in WW1 and descriptions of Halifax during wartime with sailors leaving there for Europe, and also the supply ships and convoys in the harbor. There was also a history of development of explosives which were to be used in wartime. Then we get the details leading up to the massive explosion, but the ships do not collide until about page 140 in the book. From that point on we get vivid descriptions of a city in ruins, the horrible loss of life and terrible injuries. An entire section of Halifax was destroyed:homes, churches, schools, businesses collapsed. Immediately following the explosion a 35 foot tsunami swept away some who were still alive. Those who survived, many with injuries including blindness, burns, loss of limbs had no idea if any family members were still alive or their whereabouts. To add to the misery, the next day there was a blizzard which made the homeless survivors in danger of freezing and hindered rescue efforts. We get a lot of human interest stories and how this unprecedented disaster brought out the best in people. Relief efforts were quickly on the way. Boston immediately sent in 100 doctors, 300 nurses bearing medical supplies and immediately set up new hospitals in vacant buildings before anyone knew the extent of the destruction. Help also rushed in from all over Canada, and some of the people were moved to other Nova Scotian towns. Clothing, stoves, building supplies,along with workers to rebuild the shattered homes managed to get through to Halifax despite the snowstorm. The army helped to keep order and surprisingly there was no looting. Volunteers worked tirelessly in hospitals helping the injured and looking for living and the dead in the collapsed buildings. This is one of several books just published to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the disaster on December 6th. Over 2000 people were killed immediately and 9000 wounded. 6000 buildings were completely destroyed leaving 25,000 homeless (almost half the population of Halifax) and exposed to the snow storms which followed. There would have been much more loss of life if it weren’t for the effort of so many outside medical professionals, volunteers, builders and charities which helped in the recovery and the kindness of people in Halifax and nearby towns towards the victims. The book contains a collection of photos of the damage and some of the people.

The only reason that I didn't award this five stars is the amount of repetition, but it is a riveting story of the desperate measures that were taken to supply munitions to the allied army in World War1 and the resulting tragedy. No treachery that I could see but a lot of heroism.I am really glad to have read this book and am not likely tov forget about this awful disaster and the wonderful way in which people responded to it.