Eight years after the Louisiana Purchase, the western frontier of the United States extended only to the Mississippi River. There, in the soggy, inhospitable Delta of todayas Missouri Bootheel, hardscrabble pioneers suddenly found themselves fighting for their lives against horrendous odds. The Great New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811a12 left death and unimaginable destruction in their wake. Nuetzel chronicles the terror witnessed through the eyes of panicked victims as he recounts Vade Boncoeuras struggle for his familyas survival. But could it happen today? Nuetzel firmly believes that it will, and he guides us through the sobering and shocking consequences of a twenty-first century Armageddon.