The Great Quake

June 5, 2017
Fountain, a veteran New York Times reporter and editor, adopts a human-interest perspective as he reports on the lives affected by the infamous Alaskan earthquake of Mar. 27, 1964. He begins by introducing George Plafker and his colleagues from the U.S. Geological Survey who arrived in Alaska after the quake to quickly take stock of the damage. Fountain then turns back the clock for several chapters of backstory, detailing the lives of residents of the small village of Chenega and the little town of Valdez, both soon to be devastated by the quake. A multipart biographical sketch of Plafker sandwiches a brief history of Alfred Wegener’s continental-drift hypothesis, followed by still more prequake background on residents of the affected locales. Fountain sidetracks once more to discuss previous seismic activity in Alaska before finally presenting the actual quake. He tallies the lives lost, saved, and changed, only returning to Plafker and his paradigm-changing work supporting Wegener’s idea for the final two chapters. Readers interested in the human toll of Alaska’s Good Friday Quake will appreciate the story, but those looking for an in-depth scientific discussion will need to look elsewhere.

June 15, 2017
A veteran science journalist illuminates the significance of the biggest earthquake ever recorded in North America.In his first book, New York Times reporter and editor Fountain combines scientific expertise and human interest storytelling to detail the devastation wreaked by the massive 1964 earthquake and explain why it hasn't gotten more attention and has been all but forgotten less than 60 years later. As the author makes clear, the quake, which took place on Good Friday, March 27, was truly a horrific disaster to experience: its magnitude was 9.2, and it lasted "the better part of five minutes, which is an eternity for an earthquake." Furthermore, "the energy released was equivalent to thousands of A-bombs," and it opened cracks that were 6 feet wide, 4 feet deep, and a quarter-mile long. Yet because the region most severely affected was underpopulated, it never achieved the notoriety of smaller California quakes through the decades. The human cost was some 130 casualties, many from the giant waves that engulfed small coastal villages. Fountain relates much of the narrative through the perspective of George Plafker, "a geologist with the US Geological Survey" who, at 35, "was already something of an old Alaska hand." Plafker arrived in the wake of the earthquake and used what he learned to advance the theory of plate tectonics, which is "now considered as consequential as Darwin's theory of evolution (although plate tectonics was the work of many people not one man)." The author provides a narrative counterpoint through the perspective of a young female teacher who saw the village surrounding her one-room schoolhouse destroyed. Though Fountain never achieves the novelistic drama of Jon Krakauer or Sebastian Junger in their bestselling man-against-nature books, he succeeds in showing why this particular earthquake and its aftermath are worth remembering. A readable book that shows how natural disaster spurred scientific inquiry.

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June 15, 2017

The Good Friday earthquake in Alaska struck at 5:36 p.m. on March 27, 1964. Measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale, it is considered the biggest earthquake ever recorded in North America. In this meticulously researched book, New York Times reporter and editor Fountain tells the story of the earthquake through the experiences of the citizens of Alaska, focusing specifically on the village of Chenega, which was obliterated; Valdez, which was destroyed, forcing the town to move; and heavily damaged Anchorage. The earthquake completely changed the Alaskan landscape, in some places lifting or subsiding the land six feet or more. The author alternates these personal accounts with an examination of how the earthquake ended one of the greatest controversies in geology. As shown through the fieldwork, analysis, and insights of geologist George Plafker, the earthquake entirely changed scientific opinion in favor of the theory of plate tectonics. VERDICT This is an ideal option for those who enjoyed Erik Larson's Isaac's Storm, though Fountain's book isn't as gripping as Larson's. Lay readers may be intrigued as well, but natural disaster aficionados and geology fans are the best audience for this work.--Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO

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