Black fire : the true story of the original Tom Sawyer--and of the mysterious fires that baptized Gold Rush-era San Francisco / written and illustrated by Robert Graysmith.
First biography of the little-known real-life Tom Sawyer (a friend of Mark Twain during his brief tenure as a California newspaper reporter), told through a harrowing account of Sawyer's involvement in the hunt for a serial arsonist who terrorized mid-nineteenth century San Francisco.
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Language: | English |
Published: |
New York :
Crown,
[2012], ©2012.
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Edition: | First edition. |
Subjects: | |
Genre: | |
Physical Description: | x, 268 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm |
Format: | Book |
Contents:
- Dramatis personae
- Prologue
- pt. 1. The man who burned down San Francisco : December 24, 1849-September 16, 1850
- Broderick and the Christmas Eve catastrophe
- Sawyer
- Sleep runners and flying houses
- Broderick's rogues
- Rainbow rivers of gold and silver
- pt. 2. The lightkeeper : September 17, 1850-June 22, 1851
- Tug of war
- The melting house
- The lodger
- The golden ring
- pt. 3. Steaming with Twain and Sawyer : May 26, 1863-December 16, 1866
- Steamers
- The fire girl
- Let us build a city.