Editorial Review:
History, travel writing, and human tragedy collide in a heart-stopping work of narrative nonfiction.On May 8th, 1902, Mont Pelée in Saint-Pierre, Martinique, erupted, killing almost 30,000 people instantly and completely destroying the city known as the Paris of the Caribbean. It was a spectacular, biblical, horrifying disaster, without a doubt the most sensational event of its time. Days later, rescue teams heard cries from the rubble and uncovered Ludger Sylbaris, a twenty-seven-year-old laborer who had spent the night of the eruption in jail for his involvement in a bar fight and turned out to be-against all odds-the only known survivor. He was soon world famous, traveling across America as part of Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth.Using written eyewitness accounts and historical research, Peter Morgan spins this tale and more into a spellbinding narrative. Framed by Martinique's painful history, the disaster reveals layer upon layer of corruption: a French governor more concerned with public image than the safety of his fellow islanders, the moral conflict of a scientist who knew the risks but was told to keep them quiet, and the tangle of colonial attitudes that ultimately caused the death of thousands. With deft, literary strokes, in a book rich in detail, Peter Morgan delivers all the political intrigue, drama, heroism, and villainy of the greatest suspense novel - and every word is true.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Survivor Pelee, the backstory  2008-10-11
Fast-moving, journalistically crisp account of the 1902 explosion of Mont Pelee on the Caribbean island of Martinique. The story of the "lone" survivor serves as a framework to anchor the more interesting historical, scientific, and political stories before and after the event.
Compare this book to Simon Winchester's Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 which I recently read. This book is better-written and geared more toward a popular audience, in part because the explosion of Mont Pelee was not as historically or scientifically noteworthy as Krakatoa, but also because Morgan is a better writer.
Great Book/Excellent Subject  2008-07-28
This was a book I could not put down and have read over multiple times. If you like fact based dramas and have an interest in volcanos, then this should be right up your alley. If Hollywood or better yet PBS made a movie based on this book and stayed close to the author's narrative, it would be one of the better movies of all time. And it really happened !
A Beautiful Place 2003-11-22
I read this book in two sittings,barely able to put it down. Peter Morgan's description of the ill-fated Saint Pierre painted pictures in my mind. The horror of that fateful day in 1902 I felt was portrayed in an honest yet respectful manner. The only thing I was disapointed with was that there wasn't as much information on Ludger Sylbaris as I had anticipated. Despite this I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in history or volcanoes.
The Lonliest Survivor 2003-07-28
"Science, history and human tragedy collide in a heart-stopping tale of natural catastrophe." - from the dust jacket.Author Peter Morgan makes a canny choice in his book "Fire Mountain" by focusing on the life of the single survivor of the volcanic eruption of Mount Pelee in Martinique in 1902 that completely destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre. By telling the story of the incredible survival of Ludger Sylbaris and his subsequent career as a sideshow oddity in the Barnum & Bailey circus, Morgan warmly humanizes what otherwie would have just been another run-of-the-mill disaster story. Morgan carefully reconstructs the events leading up to the destruction of Saint-Pierre, describing the city and the colorful personalities in what was then a French colonial town. Called the "Paris of the Caribbean," it was caught totally unprepared when Pelee began erupting a few months before the final disaster. The residents convinced themselves that they were far enough away to be safe before the mountain exploded in much the same manner as Mount St. Helens, utterly erasing the city from the map. In the aftermath, resucuers picking over the rubble made a startling discovery. Ludger Sylbaris somehow managed to survive the disaster in a solitary confinement cell in the local jail. Though horribly burned, he became an instant celebrity. When Barnum & Bailey made him a part of the so-called "Greatest Show on Earth," he became the first black man ever to grace the stage of the segregated show. Morgan is an excellent histroian and a good storyteller, and the book contains numerous photographs and illustrations to help the reader. At just over 230 pages of narrative, this is a highly readable and very enjoyable work.
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