Seismic City: An Environmental History of San Francisco’s 1906 Earthquake

The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 ignited fires that razed half the city, creating a need for massive reconstruction. Joanna Dyl examines how the crisis broke down spatial divisions of class and race, which heightened ethnic tensions over controversial reform ideas, like expelling Chinatown from the city center. Seismic City (University of Washington Press) analyzes the decades leading up to the event and the city’s recovery from it, showing how the rebuilding reflects the interplay of natural and human forces that have shaped the city.