The Last Day
Wrath, Ruin, and Reason in the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755

Should be ‘Book One’ on your disaster bookshelf! The Last Day is superb history of the All Saints Day earthquake of 1755 that destroyed the Portuguese capital of Lisbon and caused widespread damage as far away as North Africa. The powerful earthquake, which shook much of Lisbon’s buildings to ground,......more

A very clear and well-paced book which told me all I wanted to know about its subject. The account of the earthquake itself is less interesting than Shrady's summary of Portugal's history up to All Saints' Day, 1755 and of the reconstruction of the city. Portugal was a really backward country in the......more

If you are looking for a detailed account of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, this is not the book you are looking for. All details about the actual earthquake, tsunami and fire are comprised in about 6 pages, all together. That's a shame because the book's title entices the reader with such expectations......more

I am not sure how well I really followed this book, I didn't really have any big takeaways from it, though it certainly seems that the earthquake described here was more of an event precipitating some changes that are later described in the book rather than the subject of the book itself. 2.5 of 5 st......more

This book is a study of the catastrophic earthquake that hit Lisbon on All Souls Day in 1755 and the 20 years of rebuilding that followed. It begins with the quake on November 1, 1755 ends with the death of Sebastiao Carvalho e Mello, the Portguese statesman who was largely responsible for the effor......more