The public TV series Famous American Disasters inspired this book, which investigates in depth 5 stories: the crash of the Hindenberg, the devastating influenza epidemic of 1918, the scandal and negligence of the Morro Castle ship fire, the Wall Street crash of 1929, and the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston. Each event has its own unique lesson to teach; each has either special historical significance or an unusual dimension of human drama that still intrigues people to this day. All 5 stories reflect the era in which they occurred, and each, to a varying degree, turned 20th-century America in a different direction. Illustrated.