Defining Moments: Disasters - Sandra Forty

Like rubber-neckers at an accident, people can't help but be fascinated by disasters. Is it the massive destruction and gruesome body counts? Or is it the unthinkable terror of the people caught in the middle? Join historian and former journalist Sandra Forty as she chronicles the enormity and horror of some of the most unforgettable disasters in modern history.

In Defining Moments: Disasters, the author chronologically describes disasters broadly grouped into six categories: Natural phenomena (earthquakes, volcanoes); pandemics (outbreaks of disease); human error (accidents); ecological disasters (oil spills); bad luck (accidents of fate); and terrorism (mass bombings and random attacks). The book covers the most epic and famous disasters, like the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and the sinking of the Titanic. The reader can also explore the aftermaths of other devastating events like Chernobyl, the Challenger explosion, and the 9/11 attacks, and each disaster is well-documented with astonishing during and after photographs, along with fact boxes that break down the what, where, and when, as well as the outcome and casualties for each tragic event.

Defining Moments: Disasters is a fascinating book that makes many of us feel extremely lucky to have escaped the fickle finger of fate.