A good book on this was Daniel Defoe’s “Journal of the Plague Year.”
The “Diary of Samuel Pepys” is a book about Pepys, his times and his diary. It is very readable and explains in a compelling manner the times in which he lived. Pepys really did work his way from near the bottom to the highest rungs of English society. I believe he became the head of the Admiralty, eventually.
His personal life is also pretty interesting. He left an unvarnished record of his daily “affairs” and wrote the diary in code so it could not be read by others accidentally.
Fascinating to any history buff. Recommended.