Wrath of God

by Edward Paice

xx 279p hardback with dustjacket, unfortunately there is a scrape to the back corner which had gone through the dustjacket and the cloth but it is otherwise in perfect condition, signed by the author

Genres: History, Portugal, Nonfiction, 18th Century

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

10 minutos que abanaram a Europa, mais de 2 meses para ler cerca de 300 páginas.

A melhor parte deste livro?
O excerto do poema de Voltaire, na contracapa!

Ó míseros mortais! Ó terra deplorável!
De todos os mortais monturo inextricável!
Eterno sustentar de inútil dor também!
Filósofos que em vão gritais: «Tudo está bem»;
Vinde pois, contemplai ruínas desoladas,
restos, farrapos só, cinzas desventuradas,
os meninos e as mães, os seus corpos em pilhas,
membros ao deus-dará no mármore em estilhas,
desgraçados cem mil que a terra já devora,
em sangue, a espedaçar-se, e a palpitar embora,
que soterrados são, nenhum socorro atinam
e em horrível tormento os tristes dias finam!
Aos gritos mudos já das vozes expirando,
à cena de pavor das cinzas fumegando,
direis: «Efeito tal de eternas leis se colha
que de um Deus livre e bom carecem de uma escolha»?
Direis do amontoar que as vítimas oprime:
«Deus vingou-se, e a morte os faz pagar seu crime»?
As crianças que crime ou falta terão, qual?,
esmagadas sangrando em seio maternal?
Lisboa, que se foi, pois mais vícios a afogam
que a Londres ou Paris, que nas delícias vogam?
Lisboa é destruída e dança-se em Paris.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating subject - especially for me as I was on holiday in Lisbon for a few days last month. I'd never heard of the earthquake before then - amazing to think that an earthquake, followed by a huge fire (it was All Saints Day so most of the population were at church and the candles in there all fell over and set the place alight)and then a tsunami could devastate a European city. At the time, Lisbon was the 4th biggest city in Europe.

This book didn't really do the subject justice though - too much about the politics of the time and not enough about the earthquake itself, nor enough personal accounts from people that were there. Maybe hard to do though, as it was so long ago and the Portugese were ashamed about it as they saw it as a curse (the Wrath of God) so didn't record much about it.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lisbon earthquake is the most famous natural disaster in European history. In the space of little more than an hour on the morning of 1 November 1755, while much of the city’s population was at Mass for the feast of All Saints, three distinct tremors, followed by a forty-foot tidal wave, reduced the Portuguese capital to a heap of rubble, completely destroyed the port of Setúbal further south, and ravaged towns along the coastline of the Algarve. ‘So Dreadful was ye Seen,’ wrote an English merchant to his father, ‘it is almost impossible to Describe it to you in Less you where Eye Witnesses, the Lord grant you never may.’

The shock, nowadays calculated at 8.7 on the Richter scale, was felt across the whole landmass of western and northern Europe. In Seville, forty monasteries collapsed and the cathedral bell tower, La Giralda, was seen to ‘crumple like a sheet of paper’. Despite all that it is probably, as a catastrophe, unknown to most of us - I have only heard of it because in my reading of 18th century Russian history it is always recounted that the Empress Elizabeth (daughter of Peter the Great predecessor of Catherine the Great) was so moved by the news she sent some vast amount of money to help the survivors (though the way things worked in the 18th century it is doubtful if any the money reached its intended recipients). Perhaps it is just Portugal's bad luck that it had no Defoe or Pepys to record the scene rather than English merchants, such as the one quoted above.

By the time it was all over, 60,000 souls had perished and 85% of Lisbon’s buildings, plus an unimaginable wealth of cultural treasures, had been destroyed by quake, fire or water. The earthquake had a searing impact on the European psyche. Theologians and philosophers were baffled by this awesome manifestation of the anger of God. How could the presence of such suffering in the world be reconciled with the existence of a beneficent deity? For Portugal itself, despite an ambitious programme of reconstruction (which gave birth to the modern science of seismology), the quake ushered in a period of decline, in which her seaborne supremacy was eclipsed by the inexorable rise of the British Empire.

Edward Paice draws on a wealth of primary sources to paint a vivid picture of a city and society changed for ever by a day of terror. He describes in thrilling detail the quake itself and its immediate aftermath, but he is interested just as much in its political, economic and cultural consequences. Wrath of God is a gripping account from a master writer of a natural disaster that had a transformative impact on European society.

The problem is that he makes all the above patently clear but somehow there is a reality that is just out of grasp, maybe because he pitches the impact the earthquake had too hard. I can't help thinking that Portugal's decline as a great power long predated the earthquake, that preachers always find ways to work the wrath of God into any event and I often think that our ancestors were probably able to shrug off events like the Lisbon quake with the same ease we do even though we have dramtic video of footage of death and destruction available on our phones.

I don't mean the book is bad - I was just not as moved by the story as I thought I would be.

[Victor Sonkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and detailed description of one of the worst disasters in (relatively) recent history, at least among those that were natural and happened in Europe; probably the worst, which makes it all the more important. It is a one-sided view of the event, though, because it deals with the problems and tragedies of English merchants and immigrants to a much greater degree than a Portuguese book would; this is not a criticism, but it does leave a lot unsaid and unclear. The step-by-step movement of the tragedy is quite clear from this picture, but its general scope and influence is not. Leaves one wanting to read something else about the terremoto, even though by itself it is certainly a very good account.

(UPDATE) Since I have by now read almost all of the major accounts of that earthquake from the 20th and 21st centuries, both in English and Portuguese, I would rather praise than criticize the author for his focus on the British community. Many other books have discussed other aspects.

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant. I thought this would be a dry read but, no, it is fascinating and maintains one's interest throughout. I bought it many years ago, after my first visit to Lisbon, and allowed it to linger on my shelves. It would appear that anything lingering on my shelves is actually a really good read.

[Francisco Machado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the defining moment in Lisbon’s history. The earthquake, tsunami and great fire destroyed Lisbon in 1755. Prior to this Brazilian gold was financing the grandeur of the city. Portugal was dependent on Britain for it’s imports and the British were only too pleased to fill their pockets with gold and diamonds. Then disaster struck. Various British visitors were present at the time and their stories convey the total destruction and misery bestowed on Lisbon and the Iberian peninsula. The cause was discussed by philosophers and scientists. The Jesuits made scapegoats and expelled. Pomball asserted his authority started the rebuild of not just a city but a nation.

I will look at the Baxia and centre of Lisbon with new eyes when I visit next time.

[Asuka · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping book about Lisbon as the trade centre leading up to the 1755 Earthquake. Surprisingly detailed description of the Earthquake pieced together by various accounts by eye witnesses, and shocking political and religious impact the Earthquake had on Lisbon and even to the rest of Europe. As a geologist, I feel ashamed that I never knew about this massive Earthquake and how this was the Earthquake that began seismology in earnest. Highly recommended even if you aren't partial to Lisbon or geology. It digs deep into philosophy of tragedy as well.

[Matthew Pritchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the earthquake and tsunami that wiped out the Portuguese city of Lisbon in 1755, and was regarded as proof of God's displeasure with the sinful world, prompting a religious cull of those deemed responsible.

[jorge h f faria · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1755, a horrible earthquake shattered Lisbon. Despite the scale of the tragedy, the earthquake is now largely forgotten. This book try to connect several points and draw an image of this "world redefinition" event.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping and insightful from beginning to end. Good book to read before visiting Lisbon.

[Kristoffer skolseg · Rating 2 out of 5]

too much focus on individuals

[Igor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author's 'sin' was to broden too much the subject. Still an interesting book even if the readear opts to skip some chapters.

[Grantcorp · Rating 3 out of 5]

The great earthquake of Lisbon is one of the largest calamities to strike the European continent, and ironically the event appears to have been largely ignored by history. On that auspicious All Saints Day, a great underwater quake struck the Atlantic seabed and sent tremors in all directions, shaking among other cities the very foundations of Lisbon relentlessly and unforgivingly, razing all the great monuments of the once proud seafaring nation. Palaces, cathedrals and government structures all crumbled in a throng of powerful tremors, a violent tsunami engulfed terrified people seeking shelter by the waterfront, and those still standing were then assaulted by multiple great fires, near anarchy and famine.

Paice's "Wrath of God" details the hustle and bustle of one of the most exotic capitals on the European continent, as seen through the eyes of the resident English merchant population. Eyewitness accounts taken from letters to friends and loved ones have been carefully interspersed so as to create a narrative timeline of the events taking place on that awful Saturday of November 1, 1755 AD. This part of the book plays out much like your typical disaster movie while you follow the grand trio of disasters as experienced by the terrified population as they prey on the doomed city.

The remaining chapters describe a web of intricate policies and events in the attempt to restore and rebuild Lisbon’s grandeur, spearheaded by Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, an autocratic leader rising Phoenix-like from the city's ashes, on a quest to modernize and transform the Portuguese society. One very memorable chapter details the gruesome executions of a band of Nobles accused of treason. Other aspects of the Portuguese society and its rich colonies are touched on and help expand the understanding of a country nearing the end of its golden age.

The book is great reading though it gets heavy on location names lost on the reader not familiar with Lisbon. The supplied picture material is of little use here, a decent and detailed map would have gone a long way to enhance understanding, nearing the end of the book I simply skipped through details of this kind. I have to confess that before happening on this book this grand calamity had passed completely unnoticed to me, which all in itself is a chilling sensation worthy of deeper probing.

[Kevin de Ataíde]

A history seen through the eyes of the resident English community in Lisbon in the second half of the eighteenth century, made interesting with dialogue and behaviour of those men, who were quite good at keeping diaries. Mr. Paice certainly loves to quote from those diaries for human interest. Hardly a paragraph goes by without a quote of even a word.



The use of quotes has a striking utility. The jumble of quote and narrative allows Paice to say the most outrageous things by quoting them from journals. Indeed, English men had very few good things to say about their oldest ally. Paice can say nasty things about the Lisbon populace, about the aristocracy and about the Kings themselves, through the quotes of other men.



Within the framework of quotes, Mr. Paice then shows that he is more than a little anti-Catholic. He has classified every kind of Catholic piety in eighteenth century Lisbon (and therefore today as well) as superstition and religious frenzy. The very title of the book is a sneer at the response of the Portuguese Church to the cataclysm. On p.115, for example, he says that Spanish religious Orders were 'competing with one another' to hear confessions of terrified people.



The book builds towards showing how the Marquês de Pombal modernised a country which had been kept in a rut by a disgraceful monarchy. Even after the tyrant was removed by Dona Maria, the author squeezes out a few tears for him.



A good history, well recommended. Nice ending with Dickens.

[Lachlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly researched and excellently written account of the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755. Although nowadays many well-travelled, educated people have not even heard of the event, in the eighteenth century its impact on how people came to see themselves and their place in the world was massive. As the title suggests, it was generally interpreted as a punishment by a God angry with human sinfulness, not only in Lisbon but worldwide. It famously inspired Voltaire to mock and destroy the philosophical position that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The bulk of the book is concerned with a minute reconstruction of the actual earthquake (possibly 9 on the Richter scale), which was followed by a tsunami and then massive fires and daily aftershocks, which together laid waste to the entire city, which had grown rich from the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Most of the witnesses are British and Irish businessmen who had been in Lisbon for the rich pickings to be had there. Arguably, the country never recovered from this devastation, and indeed the book links up with many current concerns and experiences, not just the massive indebtedness of a southern country to the 'north', but also the 2004 tsunami and the March 2011 earthquake that struck Japan. A great book, not only for readers who know and love Lisbon.

[Julian Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good, popular introduction to the great Lisbon earthquake, but if it whetted your appetite, the lack of a bibliography makes it difficult to follow up some of the primary and secondary material. Written mostly using English eye-witness accounts, it perhaps lacks perspective from Portuguese and other continental sources, although quite a number of French sources are quoted. The ultra-quick assessment of Voltaire's Candide and Johnson's Rasselas suffers from its speed, and apparently the latter is assessed as the better work in only two pages (pp.215-6). Overall, a decent introduction, which, if some slightly more scholarly apparatus had been added, would have enormously improved the work without compromising its popular nature.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent book. I highly recommend this to anyone traveling to Portugal. Great history of Lisbon before the earthquake, the after effects, the relief efforts, the rebuilding, seismology at the time. Most importantly, the earthquake marked the beginning of modern Europe, the "end of Optimism and the beginning of science. Role of Voltaire -- his Poeme and later Candide, ou l'Optimisme -- "initial assault on the philosophy of optimism and ...his abhorrence for the resignation with which mankind suffered." "Before the earthquake, scientists did not question the theological explanation that earthquakes were the speech of God..." (p. 216)

[Nuno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although mostly forgotten by history manuals everywhere, this was a monumental event in world history and it is given its rightful place by Mr. Paice. Not focusing only on the earthquake itself but on the Portuguese reality before and after it, the author also gives us a story by following several historical personages from the evidence that exists.
My only critique is that the content is totally oriented towards the English audience. This means much is said about how the British were affected, which makes me think the same is missing for my own Portuguese.

[Carla Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

visão muito "inglesa" do terramoto