Survivor Stories: Non-Fiction
(Updated December 2006)
To order any of these titles, contact the library by email, mail or phone. You may also request these titles online through our OPAC. Happy Reading!
Albatross: The True Story of a Woman’s Survival at Sea by Deborah Kiley and Meg Noonan.
At 24, Deborah signs onto the crew of a private yacht. She immediately has misgivings due to the personalities and work habits of the others. As they sail to Florida, a storm and a series of mishaps sink the boat, leaving the five person crew fighting hypothermia in a small dinghy. Strong language. BR 9810.
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read.
The ordeal of the young men and women who survived seventy days in the Andes after a plane crash. Rather than die of starvation they made a difficult decision: to practice cannibalism. RC 54741, BR 2513.
And I Alone Survived by Lauren Elder and Shirley Streshinsky.
On a flight from San Francisco to Death Valley, the pilot chooses the wrong pass, forcing the small plane into a mountainside. The pilot is killed and a friend mortally injured. Alone and hurt, the author miraculously climbs down the mile high vertical drop and lives to give this account. Strong language. RC 11759.
A Night to Remember by Walter Lord.
A detailed account of what happened aboard the Titanic when it struck an iceberg and began to sink in the North Atlantic on April 14, 1912. Based on accounts of the survivors, from first class passengers to steerage and crew. RC 9698, BR 11461.
Castaway by Lucy Irvine.
When the author, then in her mid-20s, answered a London travel magazine advertisement announcing "writer seeks 'wife' for a year on tropical island," she embarked on a complex and exciting adventure. For that year she and her middle aged companion lived on the island of Tuin off the northernmost coast of Australia, where they braved drought, illness, torrential storms, and each other's acrimony. Strong language. RC 20910.
Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls by Edward Leslie.
The author tells the stories of twenty men and women involved in shipwrecks, earthquakes, plane crashes, and other disasters. Each chapter covers one person's story, often from diaries, and salutes that person's courage, resourcefulness, and perseverance. RC 29457.
Last Battle by Cornelius Ryan.
Recounts the last three weeks of the war against Germany in April 1945, from the viewpoint of the Allied and German armies locked in battle and of individual soldiers and civilians who survived the final horrors of the siege and fall of Berlin. RC 17086, BR 10973.
My Life with the Headhunters by Wyn Sargent.
With her twelve-year-old son and a party of Indonesians, the author and explorer ventures into the unmapped jungles of Central Borneo to search for the "lost" Dyak tribe of headhunters. Suffering from malnutrition, malaria, and exposure, and threatened by cannibalism, half of them manage to survive the five week ordeal. RC 9523.
Return with Honor by Scott O’Grady.
Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady prepared for his Deny Flight mission over Bosnia as usual on June 2, 1995. But several hours later, an antiaircraft missile hit his plane, and his day became anything but usual. As O'Grady details his survival during the six days it took for him to be rescued, he also provides background information on his life prior to and following that mission. RC 41856.
Saved by the Light: The True Story of a Man Who Died Twice by Dannion Brinkley.
On September 17, 1975, Brinkley was struck by lightning and appeared to die, in spite of efforts to save him. He describes going through a tunnel and coming face to face with thirteen angelic "Beings of Light," who showed him his past and his future and told him what he must do upon returning to life. A second near death experience was in 1989. RC 38855, BR 9540.
Saved!: The Story of the Andrea Doria by William Hoffer .
Recreates the events of a terrifying night in naval history. When the elegant passenger ship Andrea Doria sank off the coast of Nantucket in 1956, all but 51 persons were saved. This account, based on interviews with survivors, reveals an ordeal contrasting courage and cowardice, sensitivity and brutal indifference. RC 18648.
Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor’s Story of Life and Death in the People’s Temple by Deborah Layton.
The author recalls how as a young woman in 1978, she was living with her mother, brother, and hundreds of other American followers of the reverend Jim Jones in Guyana. She describes their wretched lifestyle and her decision to escape, just months before Jonestown residents were ordered to commit mass suicide. Some strong language. RC 48730.
Seven Came Through: Rickenbacker’s Full Story by Eddie Rickenbacker.
Courageous story of war and of men against the sea as Captain Rickenbacker relates his ordeal of 21 days adrift on the Pacific Ocean during World War 2. RC 19468.
Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend by Michael Davie.
Delves deeply into some of the factors that contributed to the great loss of life on the famed ship, which sank in 1912. Why did the lookouts not have binoculars? Why were there not enough lifeboats, and why was the California’s wireless operator not awakened? Davie looks closely at the accident and speculates on what went wrong. BR 7056.
Tornado Watch #211 by John Grant Fuller.
Account of the damage 28 tornadoes spawned in a 4-1/2 hour period on May 31, 1985, in western Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. With winds up to 300 miles per hour, 75 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured. Entire towns were flattened, creating scenes of horror and destruction. BR 7385.
Voyage of the Damned by Gordon Thomas.
Based on interviews with survivors, this is a reconstruction of the journey of the German liner St. Louis from Hamburg to Havana in 1939. The ship carried 937 Jews, 907 of whom were returned to Europe where they were disbursed, with an estimated 240 surviving. RC 8543.