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Seven Fires: The Urban Infernos that Reshaped America

Seven Fires: The Urban Infernos that Reshaped America
By Peter Hoffer

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Product Description

This resonant and fascinating book by a renowned historian examines how seven fires shaped the larger course of American history. The Boston fire of 1760 set the stage for the American Revolution. The Pittsburgh fire of 1845 opened the way to larger scale industrial plants. Out of the ashes of the Chicago fire of 1871 came the modern skyscraper, the Haymarket Riots, and the Pullman Strike. The Baltimore fire of 1904 showed how a city's downtown, utterly destroyed, could re-invent itself after a catastrophe. The Detroit fire of 1967 forced politicians to concede what people of Detroit already knew—that racism and racially-based deprivation were not changed by the civil rights movement. The Oakland Hills tragedy demolished a landscape of private privilege and imperiled the dream of leisure living in natural settings. Apart from their domestic and global political implications, the fires of 9/11 have prodded a complacent nation to admit to itself that twentyfirst century emergency services, and the urban lifestyles they protected, have to be thoroughly rethought. Told through gripping narrative chronicles of the catastrophic events, memorable portraits of historic figures, and incisive, thought-provoking analysis, Seven Fires reveals a nation and a people at its best and worst and illustrates how disasters teach lessons that, if we grasp them, can help us better our society.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1584992 in Books
  • Published on: 2006-04-24
  • Original language: English
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 480 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The "best-known conflagration in our nation's history," the 1871 Chicago fire was ignited not by a cow kicking over a lantern but by two laborers having a careless smoke in a barn. The fiasco enriched the moguls who redeveloped the city and disenfranchised the poor, sowing the seeds for a class conflict that would culminate in the 1886 Haymarket riot and the 1894 Pullman strike. According to historian Hoffer (Past Imperfect), the Chicago fire and six others are "critical moments in our urban development." The 1760 Boston fire helped spark the American Revolution, and firefighters became Sons of Liberty led by such fire wardens as Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The wreckage of Baltimore's 1904 blaze catalyzed the growth of the Inner Harbor, and Pittsburgh romanticized its 1845 fire to attract new investment capital, while the 1967 Detroit arson fires led to white flight and a blighted inner city. Hoffer fears that the present debate over the replacement for the World Trade Center sidesteps fire safety, and that new Oakland residents, after a 1991 firestorm, are complacently building multistory mansions surrounded by trees. Although cogent and thoughtful, this specialized study will appeal mainly to fire buffs and urban planners. B&w photos, maps. (May 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The seven fires chronicled here are those of Boston (1760), Pittsburgh (1845), Chicago (1871), Baltimore (1904), Detroit (1967), the East Bay of Oakland Hills (1991), and Lower Manhattan (2001). Hoffer examines the relation between fires and city life over the course of 250 years in the U.S. He explores how we as a people and a nation prepare for these fires and sometimes "negligently increase the risk of them," how we fight them and sometimes lose, and how we are transfixed by the spectacle of conflagrations and yet summon the courage to combat them. These seven fires, he writes, are typical of the conflagrations of their times and are what he calls "critical moments in our urban development that shaped the larger course of our history." Hoffer points out that while techniques of firefighting have changed over the years, some characteristics of fighting fires remain constant. He also details the dangers that firefighters face. Hoffer's mastery of narrative detail brings the history of these disasters vividly alive. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Peter Hoffer is professor of history at the University of Georgia. He is the author of Past Imperfect and many academic works. He lives in Athens, GA, and Camden, NJ.