Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers by Joseph T. Glatthaar (HC/DJ)

Adrian Tinniswood's magnificent account of the Great Fire of London explores the history of a cataclysm and its consequences.

A dynamic recounting of the horror that gripped London in 1666 after a small baker's fire erupted and spread, destroying 13,200 homes, 93 churches, St. Paul's Cathedral, and every administrative building in the capital. Looting, savage violence, panic, and chaos reigned, but what happened in the fire's wake was even more extraordinary.