Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883

Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman, examines the legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa, which was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly forty thousand people. The effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France. Barometers in Bogota and Washington, D.C., went haywire. Bodies were washed up in Zanzibar. The sound of the island's destruction was heard in Australia and India and on islands thousands of miles away. Most significant of all -- in view of today's new political climate -- the eruption helped to trigger in Java a wave of murderous anti-Western militancy among fundamentalist Muslims, one of the first outbreaks of Islamic-inspired killings anywhere. Krakatoa gives us an entirely new perspective on this fascinating and iconic event.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

It may seem a stretch to connect a volcanic eruption with civil and religious unrest in Indonesia today, but Simon Winchester makes a compelling case. Krakatoa tells the frightening tale of the biggest volcanic eruption in history using a blend of gentle geology and narrative history. Krakatoa erupted at a time when technologies like the telegraph were becoming commonplace and Asian trade routes were being expanded by northern European companies. This bustling colonial backdrop provides an effective canvas for the suspense leading up to August 27th, 1883, when the nearby island of Krakatoa would violently vaporize. Winchester describes the eruption through the eyes of its survivors, and readers will be as horrified and mesmerized as eyewitnesses were as the death toll reached nearly 40,000 (almost all of whom died from tsunamis generated by the unimaginably strong shock waves of the eruption). Ships were thrown miles inshore, endless rains of hot ash engulfed those towns not drowned by 100 foot waves, and vast rafts of pumice clogged the hot sea. The explosion was heard thousands of miles away, and the eruption's shock wave traveled around the world seven times. But the book's biggest surprise is not the riveting catalog of the volcano's effects; rather, it is Winchester's contention that the Dutch abandonment of their Indonesian colonies after the disaster left local survivors to seek comfort in radical Islam, setting the stage for a volatile future for the region. --Therese Littleton

As the center sign reads: St, John's Church Silver Reef, Utah 1879 The sign on the left reads: Bishop Lawrence J. Scanlan 1843-1915 Father Lawrence J. Scanlan was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, on October 3, 1843. He attended All Hallows College in Dublin, Ireland and was ordained a priest on June 2, 1868, for the Diocese of San Franciso. Instead of crossing the continent by team or train, he travelled to California by way of Panama, walking across the Isthmus to get the boat at Panama City sailing north. After serving in several places, he was assigned o Pioche, Nevada, where he ministered to the miners from March 16, 1869 to about 1875, when he was finally sent to Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1875 a silver strike was made at Silver Reef. Father Scanlan went to Silver Reef in 1877 and was greeted by many of his former parishioners from Pioche. He returned in November of 1878 to build St. John's Church which was completed in the Spring of 1879. Father Scanlan returned to Salt Lake City in 1879, where he was appointed Vicar Bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 1886. Bishop Scanlan died May 10, 1915, in Salt Lake City. Erected by the Catholics of the So. West Deanery. In Memory of Rev. Scanlan and the Catholic Pioneers who settled Silver Reef. The plaque on the right reads: St. John's Church After his 1877 visit to Silver Reef, Father Scanlan appointed Father Dennis Kiely as the local pastor. The increasing Catholic population continued to ask for a church. father Scanlan returned in November 1878 to accomplish this objective. The money was collected and the church completed in the spring of 1879 at the cost of $2,372.14. Father Henry T. Hyde was pastor in 1880; Father P. O'Connor, 1881; and Father P. Galligan, 1882. The church had no tower when it was finished. Father Hyde began to collect money and eventually the tower was built and a four-hundred-pound bell installed. St. Mary's School was opened in the Church on September 1, 1879, by the Sisters of the Holy Cross from St. Mary's, Indiana. Mormon children also attended this school and took the music lessons offered. St. John's Hospital was built in 1879 at the request of the miners. It was financed in part by the employees of the mines and mills at Silver Reef, each paying a dollar a month. This amounted to $200.00 a month, and with other monies collected, the hospital was completed at a cost of $2,149,07 and opened in September, 1879. It was a two-story structure with living quarters on the ground floor for the sisters assigned to work and teach at Silver Reef. Sisters who served at St. John's were: Sister Mary Beniti Bryson, Sister Mary Anicetus Crowe, Sisters Mary Leonard Forrestal, Sister Mary Constance Hayes, Sister Mary Regis Kelly, Sister Mary Eleutherius Monclair, Sister Mary Bernard O'Neill, Sister Mary Euphrosine Pepin, and Sister Mary Febronia Ward. After the great fire in 1879 and other fires in 1881, along with the declining prices in silver, and the threats of strikes in the mines, the closing of several mines led to the abandonment of Silver Reef. St. John's was closed in 1883. Sometime after 1888 the church building was purchased and moved by Pappy Stirling to the grounds next to his home in Leeds, Utah. It was used for dances and other social gatherings. The lumber from the hospital was sold to Robert C. Lund for his home in St. George, Utah.

Submitted for Monthly Scavenger Hunt - February for the category "Silver" Summer 2008, I flew down to Oklahoma to visit my 94-year-old grandmother for a week. She still lives by herself, drives, and seems physically and mentally very fit (it gives me hope that I may have inherited some good genes!). The night before I left to come home, my grandmother gave me a photo album filled with all the photos that I had ever sent to her of me and my family. She had separate photo books for all her grandchildren. It was neat to see all the photos that I had sent her back from when my two daughters were so little. My grandmother also gave me this coin necklace. I believe that it is what is called a Morgan Silver Dollar. Whether it's real or a replica for this necklace - - I'm not sure. She had it in a blue velvet jewelry box. She didn't give any story of its origin, so maybe I will have to try and get more details. (She was quite the traveler and Vegas gambler when she was younger). It doesn't really matter to me if it's worth one dollar or one thousand. It just meant a lot that she gave me something of hers to hold onto. Funny though, what I will hold onto more is that when I got home and took it out of the ziploc bag to show my kids, it had a certain fragrance to it - a musty perfume smell. Maybe it was the scent of my grandmother's perfume from being in her dresser drawer for years upon years, or the smell of her house and years of sweet cooking and baking, or all those collective odors rolled up together. All I know was that it immediately reminded me of her when I opened that plastic bag. I am going to keep it in that plastic bag, so that whenever I take it out, maybe that scent will linger for me to hold onto her and remember her always. © All Rights Reserved - No Usage Allowed in Any Form Without the Written Consent of kmrphotography. Unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited.