Many people have forgotten—or never heard about—some of the most powerful and long-lasting earthquakes to ever hit North America. One reason is the epicenter was on the frontier, on the west side of the Mississippi River only a few years after the Louisiana Purchase. Even so, the quakes and severe aftershocks shook most of the country east of the Mississippi and southern Canada.

When the New Madrid earthquakes began on December 16, 1811, the destruction on land and the Mississippi convinced many of the people living in or near the little river port that they signaled the end of the world.

Just an obscure event we don’t need to think about? Wrong. I tell why on Suzanne Adair’s Relevant History blog. Those who leave a comment have a chance to win at copy of Thunder Beneath My Feet, my novel set during the months of quakes. To read the blog, go to http://bit.ly/1pIHEov.

—Carolyn Mulford