In 1888, a sudden blizzard took rural towns across Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and the Dakota Territory by surprise. Far from their homes on the Midwestern prairie, would the people caught in the storm survive?

On October 8, 1871, a fierce fire broke out in the bustling city of Chicago. More than a hundred people died, and thousands were left homeless. Could the city have prevented this blaze?

In the mid-1840s, potato blight ruined the crops of impoverished farmers across Ireland. Many families went hungry. As the government struggled to address the problem, disease struck down people weakened by starvation. Would the country ever recover?