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Author Molesky, Mark.

Title This gulf of fire : the destruction of Lisbon, or apocalypse in the age of science and reason / Mark Molesky.

Publication Info. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Manchester, Main Library - Non Fiction  946.942 MOLESKY    Check Shelf
Edition First edition.
Description viii, 496 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm
Note "A Borzoi book"--Title page verso.
Summary "On All Saints Day of 1755, the tremors from a magnitude 8.5 earthquake swept furiously from its epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean toward the Iberian Peninsula. Nowhere was it felt more than in Lisbon, then the thriving capital of a great global empire. In a few minutes most of Lisbon was destroyed--but that was only the beginning. A tsunami swept away most of the ruined coast along the Tagus River and carried untold souls out to sea. When fire broke out across the city, the surviving Lisboetas were subject to a firestorm reaching temperatures over 1,832 degrees F. Drawing on a wealth of new sources, on modern science (geology did not exist then), and on a sophisticated grasp of Portuguese history, Molesky gives us the definitive account of the destruction, of history's first international relief effort, and of the dampening effects these events had on the optimistic spirit of the Enlightenment"--Provided by pulisher.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 437-468) and index.
Contents Prologue: The Last Victim -- Babylonia Portugueza -- November 1, 1755 -- An Unexpected Horror -- The Great Firestorm -- The Hour of Pombal -- City of Ashes, Huts of Wood -- Word spreads -- "A Chaos of Stones" -- Uma Lisboa Nova -- Reverberations.
Subject Lisbon Earthquake, Portugal, 1755.
Earthquakes -- Portugal -- Lisbon -- History -- 18th century.
Tsunamis -- Portugal -- Lisbon -- History -- 18th century.
Fires -- Portugal -- Lisbon -- History -- 18th century.
Earthquake relief -- Portugal -- Lisbon -- History -- 18th century.
Lisbon (Portugal) -- Social conditions -- 18th century.
Disasters -- Social aspects -- Europe -- History -- 18th century.
Enlightenment -- Europe.
HISTORY / Europe / General.
HISTORY / Modern / 18th Century.
NATURE / Natural Disasters.
Genre/Form History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
Subject Disasters -- Social aspects. (OCoLC)fst00894804
Earthquake relief. (OCoLC)fst00900875
Earthquakes. (OCoLC)fst00900899
Enlightenment. (OCoLC)fst00912527
Fires. (OCoLC)fst00925697
Social conditions. (OCoLC)fst01919811
Tsunamis. (OCoLC)fst01158379
Europe. (OCoLC)fst01245064
Portugal. (OCoLC)fst01208476
Portugal -- Lisbon. (OCoLC)fst01205313
Chronological Term 1700 - 1799
ISBN 9780307267627 (hardback : alkaline paper)
0307267628 (hardback : alkaline paper)
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