Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion and the Road to Recovery

by Janet F. Kitz

Story and timeline of the horrific explosion that occurred in Halifax harbor in 1917.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Canada

231 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1989

Reviews

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughts: Historical Events that occurred close to the 6 December 1917 Halifax Explosion
1. Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) concludes on 10 November 1917.
2. Balfour Declaration – 17 November 1917.
3. Halifax Explosion at 9:04 AM on 6 December 1917. Total of 2,000 deaths and 9,000 injured.
4. Russians Depart Eastern Front – Treaty effective on 17 December 1917 with the Central Powers.
5. Canadian PM Robert Borden wins a landslide election – 17 December 1917.
6. Ironically, 7 December 1941 – a mere 24 years after the tragedy in Halifax, Nova Scotia – I imagine for people that lived through the carnage of 1917 this was likely a revisit of horror for them through the news and film reels of the day. The total death count at Pearl Harbor was 2,403; 1,107 of which were aboard the USS Arizona alone. A total of 68 civilians were killed. Inserted here for comparisons of those killed.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book written by a Canadian writer of a Canadian tragedy. To say that this was a tragedy, or a devastation is to minimize the long-term effects upon those who struggled to survive, survived, and lived on – scarred for the remainder of their lives these people also brought hope to despair and proved that human resiliency is a force that can never be underestimated.

***(I read paperback 1989 first edition; not the Kindle edition; the system will not allow to "change" which version I read)***

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book to read about the Halifax Explosion. Written in the late 1980s, when the author was able to interview many of the survivors who were still alive, it is the culmination of almost a decade of work by Kitz.

She had spent much time, not only interviewing survivors, but also in working on the bags of possessions found with people who were unidentified and comparing these with the lists of those missing presumed dead.

This book is the result of a great deal of painstaking research, and it is one which deserves to be read.

[Jeanine · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a great amount of valuable information and plenty of individual accounts in this book, all of which I would love to rate higher. However, this book was dry, redundant, disjointed, and full of incomplete thoughts. Paragraphs and sentences have so little flow at times that it becomes hard to paint the full picture. But speaking of pictures, this book has many facinating photos.

[rabbitprincess · Rating 4 out of 5]

* * * * 1/2

An excellent read about one of the largest man-made explosions in history. If you haven't heard of the Halifax Explosion, it was a disaster that occurred on December 6, 1917, in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. A Belgian relief vessel, the Imo, collided with the French Mont Blanc, which was carrying an impressive array of explosives. (I can't remember the details, but my highly technical appraisal of the description was "that is a LOT of explosives.") Unfortunately relatively few people knew what exactly was on the Mont Blanc, so when she blew up, a lot of people were severely injured in the blast just because they were so close, standing along the shore to watch the fire, or because they happened to be standing at the window and then the window imploded toward them. (That's one of the really horrific things about the aftermath of the explosion: the eye injuries. One girl in hospital encountered a bucket full of human eyes that had been removed from luckless victims.) This book describes in great detail the events leading up to the explosion, the aftermath and its impact on the survivors, and the relief efforts that endeavoured to put Haligonians back on their feet.

This book is very well researched and obviously has been put together with great care. Because it was written in the 1980s, the author had greater access to actual survivors (i.e. more of them were still alive), and their experiences really bring the story home. Survivors told of standing in one spot just before the ship blew up and a few minutes later woke up to find themselves miles away. A miracle baby survived because she landed up under the stove and was sheltered by the ash pan. A schoolboy survived because his satchel took the brunt of some debris. Some lost eyes, others nearly lost arms, and pretty much every family in Halifax lost a few relatives. And for you CanLit devotees out there, you will note a cameo appearance by none other than Hugh MacLennan, who immortalized the explosion in the very excellent Barometer Rising.

When the book turned to discussions of the relief effort, I was actually quite choked up by the generosity of the people of Massachusetts, and all the efforts that were made to ensure that the kids would still have a decent Christmas. Later chapters on the inquiry into the events leading up to the explosion were interesting from a technical standpoint although they will likely not enthrall every reader.

All in all, this is probably one of the best books out there about the explosion. If you're interested in Canadian history, especially in WW1, or if you've read Barometer Rising and want to know the story behind the story, pick this one up.

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read 4 books on this major yet somehow little known disaster. You'd think the biggest pre atomic explosion in history and biggest non atomic explosion in history (it might have been surpassed now by the Beirut explosion a few years agoI'd have to check) would get more attention. But being Canadian and not American we're used to being shuffled off in the background, see Empress of Ireland. Anyway this was a book I have had for a while and since it was short and I needed a quick book to round out the year I finally picked it up. I have mixed feelings about it. The chapters describing the fire leading up to the explosion and the actual explosion were good. The author did try to bring in a human element to this story but sadly it was often broken up by statistics that made it difficult to read. The descriptions of injuries got quite graphic at time especially for me who hates any sort of eye injuries and anyone who knows even a little bit about this disaster knows the majority of wounded suffered eye injuries due to standing by windows watching the ship burn. The story of the orphans was heartbreaking and truly a sign of the times. Children were often take out of homes that were probably loving and familiar, even the homes of close relatives because their religion was different. How traumatic for children who've already been part of a horrific event to think you've settled again only to be uprooted yet again. The trial scenes were equally shocking. The lack of certain checks and balances and the lax way things were run makes me wonder how we even won the war. Pilots not reporting to the Harbour Master, ships leaving without permission, people giving sailing dates for ships to anyone who called them its a miracle there weren't more incidents. I still say Imo was mostly to blame as she was on the wrong side of the channel and refused to move and this book states she didn't have permission to leave and therefore should never have been there in the first place. They got off lightly since it's hard to accuse and blame a dead captain and pilot. But ultimately both ships hold some blame for what happened. The Mount Blanc and her crew failed to do more to warn the many standing on shore of the danger but ran and hid on the less populated Dartmouth side wanting to preserve their own lives in contrast to someone like Vincent Coleman who sacrificed himself in order to stop a train full of people from arriving in Halifax and certain death or injury. So while flawed and dry in places it was still a decent look into the history of one of Canada's worst disasters.

[Fyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dry. Lots of stats and figures. She tries to give it the human element by including details about several given families, but lacks the skill as a writer to truly make any sort of through line. Family charts would have helped. Also, a more legible map of Halifax at the time as well as before and after maps of the explosion and a modern day map showing the area of devastation.

[Chantelle Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent recount of the Halifax explosion. It was the second largest man-made explosion after the atomic bombs in Japan. Incredible story of a devastated community coming together.

[John Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

After living in Halifax for a number of years, I was always fascinated by the naval history of Halifax and the horrific story of the Halifax Explosion. Ms. Kitz offers an informative and balanced view of this little-know event in Canada's history practically forgotten in the 21st century - one of the largest man-made disasters in history that never should have happened.

The setting is Halifax, Nova Scotia, one of the world's greatest natural harbors. The time is WWI and the traffic in the harbor is crowded with ships moving from North America to Europe, carrying men, relief supplies, and explosives. All ships carrying explosives into the sheltered harbor are to fly a red flag which warns others to give way and follow very specific protocols. And this is where it all went wrong.

The French ship Mont-Blanc entering the harbor on December 6, 1917, was crammed with TNT, Picric acid, and Benzole fuel and was a floating time bomb. The slightest spark or jolt had to be avoided and the seamen wore cloth wrappings on their shoes, matches were forbidden, and the vessel had traveled close to the shore on its way up the east coast of the US to dodge the higher waves of the open ocean. The captain of the Mont-Blanc decided, for whatever reason, not to hoist the red warning flag and the Norwegian ship Imo which was headed out of the channel mouth on its way to Europe, suddenly loomed into sight on the wrong side of the water traffic. The captains of both ships reacted as quickly as they could but the ships collided ever so slightly. But it was enough to cause the unimaginable to happen.

The results were almost beyond belief......1,600 people killed instantly, 900 more within a few minutes, a heat/fire blast that destroyed the buildings for five miles and a tsunami 60 feet above the high-water mark. The final death toll has never been officially determined as humans were vaporized or thrown miles away by the blast. It was practically a nuclear explosion before there were nuclear weapons.

Ms Janet Kitz separates the book into sections describing some history of beautiful Nova Scotia and some of the inhabitants, the explosion, and the rescue efforts and aftermath. A most extraordinary event that happened to ordinary people and I am always amazed by the humanity, the relief effort and the sacrifice that people made to help and save others in dire need during this horrific ordeal.

[Wendy Lovatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

So hard to believe this enormous tragedy happened and we never learned about it or ever heard about it, except when we went to Halifax. A very thorough book with personal inputs and photos and a great testament to the folks of Halifax and those who went to their aid. Again we see the effects of war are far-reaching, on the map and into future generations.

[Ferris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a detailed, pieced together telling of the massive explosion in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1917. It was interesting, for the most part, and covered multiple facets of the disaster, including personal stories, finances, the recovery, the evaluation of the event.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion and the Road to Recovery is an incredibly
interesting book, however I found it hard at times to follow the people mentioned.
All in all a fascinating read.

[Jordan Maloney · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

Really thorough.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: My interest in the Halifax Explosion began in 1980, sparked by research for an anthropology paper at Saint Mary's University.

Premise/plot: Shattered City is a nonfiction book for adults about the Halifax explosion (which occurred on December 6, 1917). It starts off by explaining the research process and project. Talking about the ways information for the book was gathered and collected, what resources were examined. It then begins chronicling the event. The section of the book that chronicled the day of the disaster was intense yet intriguing. It was packed with what appear to be firsthand accounts. This section is where there is a human element. It isn't so much that there's a consistent cast of [real life] characters to follow, but even spending a few paragraphs with a family is something more personal. The 'aftermath' section which is "the road to recovery," is perhaps less personal, less human-interest, more facts and statistics. (Though not always.) For example, reading about the reconstruction of houses, streets, neighborhoods is less personal and more matter-of-fact. Or reading about the weekly allotment of financial assistance to buy food and how that was determined. But there were also updates on schools for the blind and how adults and children were learning or relearning necessary skills for beginning to live life again. So there were occasional moments of high interest.

My thoughts: This book should NOT be confused with a movie with the same name. That is how I came across this book. It is not the author's fault--nor the book's fault--that the movie about the Halifax explosion shares the same name. The movie chronicles ONE family and a small cast of characters. It builds up to the explosion over several days. You get attached to the characters. There is intensity and suspense. There is heartbreak. It is super-absorbing and compelling. This book....isn't. The first part is definitely more interesting than the second part. But it is also very technical. I'm not expressing it in the right words. Human interest. This one doesn't always stay focused on a 'human interest' perspective. The facts may be of great interest to the right reader. But if you care more about people than supplies of food or lumber...then you might find yourself a bit bored now and then.

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's an interesting story here, but sadly, the book is written as a simple recitation of facts and figures. There are a lot of people here with some fascinating stories to tell, but even when the author tries to get in close for a good look at someone, she seems unable to really empathize with her subjects. While the story is intriguing, the delivery of it is not.

[KJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book about one of those train wreck situations where you can't look away. I always feel mildly uncomfortable being 'entertained' by disasters and anguish experienced by others but nonetheless it was a fascinating event. One hundred year anniversary coming up here soon in December, 2017.

[Bob Mcbobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed report of the Halifax explosion, its immediate aftermath, and the long-term efforts to rebuild the city and help the victims. While it contains a wealth of information, the writing is quite dry and it contains a lot of detail not germane to the story. Still, despite its narrative faults, it is a very informative read for those looking to learn more about this incredible disaster.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just the craziest thing. And tragic.

I would not say this is the most well-written book ever, but it is the most thorough for the topic and is not difficult to read. Totally fascinating story.

[Joan Huehnerhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really brought the 1917 Halifax explosion to light. We watched the mini-series, which was okay. but I wanted to know more. The survivors had true grit. They hauled themselves up by the bootstraps and survived.

[Tim Petersik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great account of the wartime explosion in Halifax Harbor and its devastation of the lives of people in the city.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story. Book is not well written. Reads more like a long newspaper story.

[Peter Burgstaller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dreary and boring