If you have followed along with my reading for any length of time, you know that I enjoy reading historical nonfiction, especially when the book is written in a narrative style. My favorite subgenre within this genre are books about catastrophes, tragedies, and natural disasters. I am a worst-case scenario thinker, so maybe there is a part of me that is psychologically attempting to ask “What would I do if I had been alive during this?” I know that one reason these kinds of books interest me is that they usually contain a lot of information that is lacking in our shared cultural knowledge. I’m also interested in how those who survived processed what they had experienced. I could go on.
I’m aware that these kinds of books aren’t for everyone. But if you enjoy reading about historical events, these are some of my favorite. I’ve listed them in order of when they occurred—from the Westward Expansion in America during the 1840s to the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012.
