Nightfall

From George Russell's review of Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light by Jane Brox:

In her final chapter Brox relates that due to electric light pollution, "two-thirds of all Americans and half of all Europeans can no longer see the Milky Way, our own galaxy, in the nighttime sky." According to her the sight of it has become so unfamiliar to people that during the 1994 earthquake in Los Angeles, "emergency organizations [...] received hundreds of phone calls from people wondering whether the sudden brightening of the stars and the appearance of a 'silver cloud' (the Milky Way) had caused the quake."

(Mr Russell seems to like it but, judging by the peanut gallery at Amazon, Brilliant appears, unfortunately, not remotely as good a book as its subject matter deserves.)