Seven Fires by Peter Charles Hoffer

Seven Fires: The Urban Infernos that Reshaped America, by Peter Charles Hoffer, reviewed by Bruce Armstrong, Claytor Library
(PublicAffairs, 2006, $27.50, 460 pages)

From the Great Fire of Boston in 1760 to the collapse of the Twin Towers, Hoffer provides a gripping narrative of seven urban infernos that affected the social, economic and political structure of the United States. The British Parliament’s indifference to the suffering in Boston paved the way to the Revolutionary War. The fires in Pittsburgh in 1845 and Chicago in 1871 led to economic rebirth. However, the “white flight” after the Detroit fires of 1967 divided the city even further. The World Trade Center collapse shows both the inadequacy of building codes and the need for a new type of urban disaster firefighting. A thoughtful, compelling read.