Tag: disaster
-
Empire of Ice and Stone by Buddy Levy
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Empire of Ice and Stone: The lesson, as always, is don’t go to the Arctic. Quick synopsis: The story of the Karluk, which was shipwrecked in the Arctic and the crew’s attempts to survive. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Friendly reminder that many of the events in the Arctic take…
-
Death by Fire and Ice by Brian E. O’Connor
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Death by Fire and Ice: My vote is the fire part is worse. Quick synopsis: The story of the sinking of the steamboat Lexington in 1840 and how it all happened. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Cornelius Vanderbilt started out working on his father’s New York ferry. Fun Fact for…
-
The Halifax Explosion by Ken Cuthbertson
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Halifax Explosion: When Canada decides to go big, they go really big. Quick synopsis: The story of the Halifax Explosion of 1917, one of the worst man-made disasters in history. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: This is still the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion in human history. Fun Fact for…
-
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline: I would have just laid down and died. Quick synopsis: The story of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914–1917 led by Sir Ernest Shackleton. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: No one died from the Endurance. Read the book. They all should have. Fun Fact for History Nerds: When the expedition returned…
-
Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Madhouse at the End of the Earth: Belgium tried to do what? Quick summary: The voyage of the Belgica, a ship from Belgium intent on Antarctic discovery in 1897. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The Antarctic Giant Petrel’s defense mechanism is to puke on you. It smells really bad apparently.…
-
The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Terrible Hours: As if you needed more reasons not to go on a submarine. Quick synopsis: The story of the rescue of the crewmen on the submarine Squalus in 1939. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Until about the mid-1930s, if your submarine had a problem, you were going to…
-
The Lost Story of the Ocean Monarch by Gill Hoffs
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Lost Story of the Ocean Monarch: A chronicle of how much the 19th century sucked. Quick synopsis: The story of the sinking of the Ocean Monarch in 1848. The ship was an emigrant ship headed for Boston and caught fire soon after leaving port. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like:…
-
The Great Mortality by John Kelly
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Great Mortality: If you think the coronavirus sucks… Quick synopsis: A look at the Black Death as it raged across Europe. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: In Italy, some towns saw over an 80% death rate. Think of 10 of your neighbors. 8 of them would have been dead…
-
Icebound by Andrea Pitzer
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Icebound: You should probably take warm clothes with you to the Arctic. Quick synopsis: The voyages of Dutch Explorer William Barents in attempts to find the Northeast Passage. No, not the Northwest Passage, the Northeast Passage. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: People used to believe geese were magical creatures because…