Non-fiction Disaster Books
1. 
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
by:
Jon Krakauer
4.26 avg rating — 550,968 ratings 2. 
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
by:
Erik Larson
4.05 avg rating — 70,018 ratings 
6. 
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl―A National Book Award Winner
by:
Timothy Egan
4.06 avg rating — 60,120 ratings 7. 
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea
by:
Sebastian Junger
4.12 avg rating — 117,721 ratings 
9. 
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
by:
John M. Barry
3.98 avg rating — 42,018 ratings 10. 
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster 4.37 avg rating — 61,006 ratings
11. 
The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus
by:
Richard Preston
4.16 avg rating — 119,585 ratings 12. 
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
by:
Steven Johnson
3.89 avg rating — 55,255 ratings 13. 
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883
by:
Simon Winchester
3.88 avg rating — 21,501 ratings 
16. 
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America
by:
David von Drehle
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7,586 ratings 17. 
The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy
by:
Stewart O'Nan
3.96 avg rating — 2,772 ratings 
19. 
Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident
by:
Donnie Eichar
3.99 avg rating — 25,502 ratings 
21. 
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride 4.25 avg rating — 35,223 ratings
22. 
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
by:
Sheri Fink
3.93 avg rating — 39,330 ratings 
24. 
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America
by:
Timothy Egan
4.14 avg rating — 17,867 ratings 
26. 
Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919
by:
Stephen Puleo
4.02 avg rating — 5,025 ratings 
29. 
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic
by:
Gay Salisbury
4.19 avg rating — 3,530 ratings 
31. 
The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche
by:
Gary Krist
3.99 avg rating — 2,290 ratings 32. 
102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers
by:
Jim Dwyer
4.30 avg rating — 12,178 ratings 33. 
Killer Show: The Station Nightclub Fire, America's Deadliest Rock Concert
by:
John Barylick
4.37 avg rating — 1,221 ratings 34. 
Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
by:
Joan Druett
4.06 avg rating — 12,693 ratings 35. 
Rising Tide: the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America
by:
John M. Barry
4.22 avg rating — 5,752 ratings 35. 
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11
by:
Garrett M. Graff
4.72 avg rating — 41,758 ratings 
39. 
Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion 1917
by:
Laura Mac Donald
3.98 avg rating — 1,182 ratings 40. 
Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster 4.18 avg rating — 2,222 ratings
42. 
When the Mississippi Ran Backwards: Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New Madrid Earthquakes
by:
Jay Feldman
3.76 avg rating — 738 ratings 43. 
44. 
The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History 3.91 avg rating — 6,648 ratings
44. 
Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916
by:
Michael Capuzzo
3.87 avg rating — 6,879 ratings 
47. 
Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It
by:
Gina Kolata
3.91 avg rating — 7,614 ratings 48. 
Gone at 3:17: The Untold Story of the Worst School Disaster in American History
by:
David M. Brown
4.44 avg rating — 361 ratings 
51. 
52. 
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
by:
Adam Hochschild
4.19 avg rating — 66,212 ratings 53. 
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors
by:
Doug Stanton
4.33 avg rating — 23,190 ratings 54. 
Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II
by:
Mitchell Zuckoff
3.87 avg rating — 46,527 ratings 
56. 
What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South's Tornado Alley
by:
Kim Cross
4.25 avg rating — 2,316 ratings 
59. 
59. 
The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us and What We Can Do about Them
by:
Lucy Jones
4.13 avg rating — 1,704 ratings 61. 
Fire in the Grove: The Cocoanut Grove Tragedy and Its Aftermath
by:
John C. Esposito
4.03 avg rating — 637 ratings 62. 
The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time
by:
John Kelly
3.89 avg rating — 11,192 ratings 63. 
Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man
by:
Lynn Vincent
4.46 avg rating — 7,237 ratings 
65. 
The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco
by:
Marilyn Chase
3.83 avg rating — 1,102 ratings 66. 
Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy
by:
Albert Marrin
3.77 avg rating — 1,949 ratings 67. 
Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster 4.03 avg rating — 745 ratings
68. 
69. 
71. 
72. 
Disaster! The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906
by:
Dan Kurzman
3.72 avg rating — 138 ratings 73. 
Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II
by:
Mitchell Zuckoff
3.98 avg rating — 12,184 ratings 74. 
A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca
by:
Andrés Reséndez
4.11 avg rating — 3,687 ratings 75. 
The Great Fire of London, in that Apocalyptic Year, 1666
by:
Neil Hanson
3.75 avg rating — 286 ratings 
77. 
Firestorm at Peshtigo: A Town, Its People, and the Deadliest Fire in American History
by:
Denise Gess
3.87 avg rating — 848 ratings 78. 
The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic 4.09 avg rating — 2,732 ratings
79. 
The Great Circus Train Wreck of 1918: Tragedy on the Indiana Lakeshore
by:
Richard M. Lytle
3.57 avg rating — 199 ratings 80. 
Fatal Storm: The Inside Story of the Tragic Sydney-Hobart Race
by:
Rob Mundle
4.17 avg rating — 680 ratings 81. 
Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny
by:
Mike Dash
4.16 avg rating — 4,251 ratings 82. 
The Winecoff Fire: The Untold Story of America's Deadliest Hotel Fire
by:
Sam Heys
4.29 avg rating — 153 ratings 83. 
American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land
by:
Monica Hesse
3.79 avg rating — 16,446 ratings 
85. 
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
by:
Randy Shilts
4.39 avg rating — 28,866 ratings 86. 
The Big Truck that Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster
by:
Jonathan M. Katz
4.12 avg rating — 1,842 ratings 87. 
The Day the Earth Caved In: An American Mining Tragedy
by:
Joan Quigley
3.57 avg rating — 245 ratings 
89. 
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space 4.52 avg rating — 14,519 ratings
90. 
Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima
by:
James Mahaffey
4.21 avg rating — 2,846 ratings 91. 
The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
by:
Douglas Brinkley
4.17 avg rating — 3,064 ratings 
93. 
Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition
by:
Buddy Levy
4.47 avg rating — 3,524 ratings 94. 
Race to the Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest
by:
Ranulph Fiennes
4.26 avg rating — 1,428 ratings 
96. 
A First Rate Tragedy: Robert Falcon Scott and the Race to the South Pole
by:
Diana Preston
4.09 avg rating — 336 ratings 
98. 
City on Fire: The Forgotten Disaster That Devastated a Town and Ignited a Landmark Legal Battle
by:
Bill Minutaglio
4.21 avg rating — 302 ratings 99. 
The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism
by:
John U. Bacon
4.18 avg rating — 3,852 ratings 100. 
The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder, and the Agony of Engine 57
by:
John N. Maclean
4.32 avg rating — 368 ratings