The book features a brief history of Halifax’s history before the Halifax Explosion of 1917 including the city’s role in the Titanic’s aftermath, outstanding economic and cultural residents of Halifax, and general details about life in 1917 in Halifax. The main portion of the book includes stories of people in Halifax who experienced the explosion in one way or another and the spectacular assistance and support offered by Canadian and American citizens, with an emphasis on the exceptional assistance offered by Massachusetts. It then describes the “Spanish Flu” epidemic of 1918 and the Canadian nurses who voluntarily went to Massachusetts to assist in hospitals in that state. Finally, there is an analysis of the actions and inactions of the hollow men (the term described by the T.S. Elliot poem) who could have prevented the explosion but ultimately did not act to protect the citizens of Halifax and Dartmouth Nova Scotia.