Vol. 1 Exploration and adventure : Erik the Red and Norse settlement in Greenland -- The children's crusade -- Christopher Columbus in Hispaniola -- Pedro de Alvarado's trek to Quito -- Francisco de Coronado's quest for gold -- The many misadventures of Sir Walter Raleigh -- The "Lost Colony" at Roanoke -- Willem Barents's search for a Northeast passage -- The downfall of Rene-Robert de La Salle -- James Cook in the South Pacific and Antarctica -- Mungo Park's second trip to the Niger River -- Peter Skene Ogden and the Columbia River Territory -- The Donner Party tragedy -- The disappearance of John Franklin's expedition -- David Livingstone's African expeditions -- Burke and Wills seek telegraph route -- Francis Garnier's death in Vietnam -- George Washington De Long's search for the North Pole -- Frederick Albert Cook's "discovery" of the North Pole -- Robert Falcon Scott's trip to the South Pole -- Umberto Nobile and the Italia crash -- The disappearance of Amelia Earhart -- Christopher McCandless in the Alaskan wilderness -- Jessica Dubroff's fatal flight -- Fatalities on Mount Everest.

Vol. 2 Science and Technology : Copper mining in Butte, Montana -- The sinking of the Titanic -- The Boston molasses spill -- The failure of the artificial heart -- The Hindenburg airship crash -- DDT contamination -- Love canal toxic waste contamination -- Howard Hughes and the Spruce Goose -- Thalidomide birth defects -- TWA super-constellation and United Airlines DC-7 collision -- Chevrolet Corvair controversy -- Agent orange spraying -- The Apollo 13 oxygen tank rupture -- Ford Pinto rear-impact defect -- Three Mile Island meltdown -- MGM Grand Hotel fire -- The superconducting super collider -- Toxic vapor leak in Bhopal, India -- The Challenger explosion -- Chernobyl accident in the Ukraine -- Exxon Valdez oil spill -- The "year 2000" computer problem -- The ban on silicone breast implants -- Mad cow disease outbreak -- The death of Dr. Karen Wetterhan.

Vol. 3 Military : The fall of Athens -- Alexander in the Gedrosia Desert -- The Battle of Hattin -- The English expedition to Cádiz -- The Battle of Poltava -- The Battle of Trenton -- Tecumseh's campaign -- The fall of Detroit -- The Battle of Waterloo -- The Crimean War -- Francisco Solano Lopez destroys Paraguay -- The assault on Fort Wagner -- Pickett's charge -- The Battle of Little Bighorn -- Gallipoli campaign -- The Battle of Verdun -- The Easter Rising -- The Amritsar Massacre -- Operation Barbarossa -- Kamikaze at Leyte Gulf -- Douglas MacArthur in Korea -- The Bay of Pigs Invasion -- The Vietnam War -- Operation Eagle Claw -- The Persian Gulf War.

Vol. 4 Society : Cleopatra's fall -- The romance of Heloise and Abelard -- Witchcraft hysteria -- The gunpowder plot -- The Luddite movement -- The Southampton insurrection -- John Brown's raid -- The Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire -- The Black Sox baseball scandal -- The Dionne quintuplets -- The War of the Worlds broadcast -- The McCarthy Communist scare -- The Rosenberg Case -- The Twenty-One Quiz Show scandal -- The Watergate cover-up -- Big-budget movie mania -- Denver International Airport construction -- The Aldrich Ames spy case -- The fall of John Gotti -- The sinking of the Andrea Gail -- The assault on Nancy Kerrigan -- Nicholas Leeson and the collapse of Barings PLC -- The Toyko nerve gas strike -- Hostage crisis in Peru -- The Bre-X Mining scandal.