Today, we have Matthew Davenport on the show. Matthew is an attorney and the author of two books, the second of which, The Longest Minute: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 is the topic for today's conversation. Matthew's first book, First Over There, was a finalist for the 2015 Guggenheim Lehrman Prize in military history, and was heralded by Pulitzer Prize winning historian James McPherson as "military history at its best." The Longest Minute is a fascinating look at the conditions that led to this terrible fire that destroyed the city of San Francisco in 1906.
Matthew has been a contributing writer for the Wall Street Journal book review and Salon.com and is a member of the Authors Guild. He is a native Missourian and a former prosecutor and now practices law in North Carolina where he lives with his wife and two sons. This was a great conversation where we were able to dig into the earthquake, the subsequent fire and a lot more.
Today we have Andrew Alden on the show. Alden is a geologist and geoscience writer who has worked for the US Geological Survey and...
In today's special interview episode, we explore central valley history with John DeSimone and talk about his new book.
In this brief intermission in our story, I make a small plea to support our podcast. Here's a link to our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/historyofcalifornia