Profiles over forty disasters that have hit the region in the past 250 years.
The threat of disaster has been a fact of life for many Atlantic Canadians, whose livelihoods often depended on the unpredictable seas and the volatile mines. But even with constant improvements in technology, disasters in the region have become no less a part of life, as 1992's Westray mine collapse and 1998's Swissair crash demonstrate.
A History of Disaster explores the most significant Atlantic Canadian disasters over the past 250 years, many well-remembered and none ever forgotten. Forty-three of the region's deadliest disasters are profiled, while photos and illustrations capture the heartbreak, and often the bravery, that accompanied these unexpected events. Organized chronologically, some of the disasters described here are among the world's most infamous-the sinking of the Titanic and the Halifax Explosion among them.

Ken Smith was born, raised, and schooled in Bathurst, New Brunswick, where he also worked for thirty-seven years as a mining laboratory technician. He is the author of A History of Disaster and two local histories of the Bathurst region, Homegrown Heroes and Mainstreet Memories. The father of two grown daughters, Ken lives in Bathurst with his wife, Verna.

Ken Smith's profile page