To understand the cataclysmic earthquake that will tear California apart one day, environmental historian Philip L. Fradkin offers a vivid history of earthquakes and an eloquent guide and gazetteer to the San Andreas Fault, the seismic scar that runs alongside the Golden State's spectacular scenery. The author includes dramatic stories of legendary earthquakes elsewhere: in New York, New England, the central Mississippi River Valley, Europe, and the Far East.

Fradkin reaches beyond the earthshaking moment to examine the mythology, culture, social implications, politics, and science of earthquakes.