The Great Halifax Explosion

A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism

By: John U. Bacon

Narrated by: Johnny Heller

From New York Times best-selling author John U. Bacon, a gripping narrative history of the largest manmade detonation prior to Hiroshima: In 1917, a ship laden with the most explosives ever packed on a vessel sailed out of Brooklyn's harbor for the battlegrounds of World War I; when it stopped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, an extraordinary disaster awaited....

On Monday, December 3, 1917, the French freighter SS Mont-Blanc set sail from Brooklyn carrying the largest cache of explosives ever loaded onto a ship, including 2,300 tons of picric acid, an unstable, poisonous chemical more powerful than TNT. The US had just recently entered World War I, and the ordnance was bound for the battlefields of France to help the Allies break the grueling stalemate that had protracted the fighting for nearly four demoralizing years. The explosives were so dangerous that Captain Aimé Le Medec took unprecedented safety measures, including banning the crew from smoking, lighting matches, or even touching a drop of liquor.

Sailing north, the Mont-Blanc faced deadly danger, enduring a terrifying snowstorm off the coast of Maine and evading stealthy enemy U-boats hunting the waters of the Atlantic. But it was in Nova Scotia that an extraordinary disaster awaited. As the Mont-Blanc waited to dock in Halifax, it was struck by a Norwegian relief ship, the Imo, charging out of port. A small fire on the freighter's deck caused by the impact ignited the explosives below, resulting in a horrific blast that, in 1/15 of a second, leveled 325 acres of Halifax - killing more than 1,000 people and wounding 9,000 more.

In this definitive account, Bacon combines research and eyewitness accounts to re-create the tragedy and its aftermath, including the international effort to rebuild the devastated port city. As he brings to light one of the most dramatic incidents of the 20th century, Bacon explores the long shadow this first "weapon of mass destruction" would cast on the future of nuclear warfare - crucial insights and understanding relevant to us today.

©2017 John U. Bacon (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

A tragic but also very hopeful book

Excellent research. Riveting Writing/Performance Opens with the foibles and blindness to possible tragedy that all humanity suffers from. Describes in detail how real people dealt with the biggest human made explosion in history up to that point in time. Describes how when everything is gone humans are basically good, caring and wanting to help others. Left me feeling that we still have hope to return to less hateful, polarized times. I'm just praying it doesn't take a terrible tragic event to get us there

A Good, Humane, Account of an Inhumane Tragedy

I found the text to be an excellent grounding to contextualize the events leading up to the explosion, as well as being generous to the majority of those he reported upon.

The biggest question I’d always had about the explosion had been to wonder how Mont Blanc got saddled with sole blame at the two initial legal cases. This book offers an explanation that feels very compelling to me.

The narrator does a great job with the text. I recommend this work to all readers.

A well told horrifying story

Like Erik Larsen, the author here captures as best as possible a complex web of causes, effects. and the people caught between them.

tragedy that brought the US & Canada together

We all learn about the war of 1812 but not what ended the hostility between the US & Canada.

great story

Incredible

Just visited Halifax and wanted to understand more about the explosion. This is an account and very informative. Not a story per se and left me wanting to understand more. What a terrible sad tragedy.

Best Audible book I have listened to.

I never had heard of this explosion. It was well written and the performance was excellent. I binge listened to it over 3 days time. I wish I had known about this before I went to Halifax about 20 years ago!

Touching and Memorable

I had never heard about Halifax. I just listened to another book about how disasters can bring together a “survivalist” community that brings out the best in people and helps them overcome such disasters, and Halifax was mentioned. It peaked my curiosity and I purchased this book. At first I thought it was way too slow, and couldn’t understand why the writer spent so many chapters on Halifax history before ever getting to the explosion incident. However, that background buildup made the event far more poignant and many attitudes more understandable. This ended up being a heartfelt and memorable telling of a terrible tragedy that I feel bad for not having known about. Well worth the listen.

Fascinating Piece of History

I truly enjoyed this audiobook. Like “The Jamestown Flood” and “Under a Flaming Sky”, this book gives a full picture leading up to the event and afterwards. I found the events and characters described fascinating and thought the author’s perspective thought provoking. I would definitely recommend to anyone who loves true history or investigative stories.

Informative and interesting

Having visited Halifax a couple of times I found this book to be very informative and appreciated the fine citizens of Canada. Their heroism is to this day very much appreciated.

Unsung heros unearthed amidst overlooked history

Loved this retelling of an all too often forgotten chapter of history that's had ripple effects up to the modern day. This true story uncovered everyday heros who emerged n the middle of one of North America's greatest (and mostly unknown) tragedies.