Disaster!: A History of Earthquakes, Floods, Plagues, and Other Catastrophes

A comprehensive catalog of the most devastating and deadly events-natural or man-made-in human history.



If you follow the news it can seem like injury, sickness, and death are now constant, inescapable occurrences that threaten us every second of every day. But such catastrophic events-as terrible and frightening as they are-have been happening for as long as mankind has walked the Earth . . . and even before.



From ancient volcanoes and floods to epidemics of cholera and smallpox to Hitler'...