(left: 1st UK ed., 1942; right: 1st American ed., 1941)
5-time Governor-General’s award-winner Hugh MacLennan’s writing career began with Barometer Rising–his fictional account of the explosion based on personal reminiscences. He did a lot to introduce the event to Canadians and many readers outside of Canada, thus immortalizing this tragic historical event in Canada’s history. The explosion killed 2,000 and injured another 9,000, while destroying much of the city at the end of WW1. It was the largest man-made explosion preceding the atomic bomb in WW11.