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The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 was no run-of-the-mill misfortune-it was a watershed moment that shook the pillars of an inveterate social order and sent reverberations throughout the Western world. Earth, water, wind, and fire all conspired to produce a hellish catastrophe that lasted for a full five days and left Lisbon thoroughly annihilated. Nicholas Shrady's unique account of this first modern disaster and its aftereffects successfully articulates the outcome of the earthquake-the eighteenth-century equivalent of a mass media frenzy giving rise to a host of other fascinating developments, such as disaster preparedness, landmark social reform, urban planning, and the birth of seismology.
"Shrady's account will find the same ready audience that delight's not only in tales of catastrophes but in smart, stylishly written history."
-Publishers Weekly
Acknowledgments vi
1 All Saints' Day 3
2 Order Out of Chaos 25
3 Taking Stock 49
4 Alis Ubbo ... Olisipo ... Al-Ushbuna ... Lisboa 63
5 A Golden Age, of Sorts 81
6 The Preacher and the Philosopher 113
7 Like a Phoenix from the Flames 147
8 Enlightenment at Any Price 169
Epilogue 203
Notes 211
Bibliography 215
Index 221
Overview
The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 was no run-of-the-mill misfortune-it was a watershed moment that shook the pillars of an inveterate social order and sent reverberations throughout the Western world. Earth, water, wind, and fire all conspired to produce a hellish catastrophe that lasted for a full five days and left Lisbon thoroughly annihilated. Nicholas Shrady's unique account of this first modern disaster and its aftereffects successfully articulates the outcome of the earthquake-the eighteenth-century equivalent...