The Wager
By David Grann
- Release Date: 2023-04-18
- Genre: True Crime
Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.
A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, TIME, Smithsonian, NPR, Vulture, Kirkus Reviews
“Riveting...Reads like a thriller, tackling a multilayered history—and imperialism—with gusto.” —Time
"A tour de force of narrative nonfiction.” —The Wall Street Journal
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.
But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang.
The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.
Reviews
Amazing story
4By ScalinniTrue human nature comes through.Not very exciting
3By fjvvgvjThe book was pretty dullA true masterpiece, amazing read
5By ShowbloxThis is honestly one of the best books I have ever read, and I didn’t even think I would like it. David Grann is an amazing author and tells every detail of this story masterfully. If you ask me this should get a Pulitzer or something. Awesome!Great Read
5By mjmbookMoved along at a good pace. Very entertaining. A page turner and well written.Meh…
2By Longhorn5555often tedious… and the author just can’t resist dropping in his ideological comments … constantly projecting events as being “designed to cover up oppression of indigenous people” and the like. If writing history, stick to facts.Adventure and politics
5By Brandi SGreat book!Excellent Book!
5By RyanOdaHawaiiThis book read like a non fiction thriller. The author did a perfect job in telling this story!A Fantastic Historic
5By WinnsmWhat an incredible story of survival, betrayal, perserverance and humanity. It’s a page turner. I’m not a big non-fiction history reader but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. No fictional tale compares to this historic written documentary. I mean you can’t make this up. I highly recommend this book to anyone. You will enjoy it. I couldn’t put it down.Great true story
5By A Interested ReaderWell written and the story was so gripping it moves quickly. I felt so much while reading it. At times it takes your breath away.A daunting story of survival, anarchy, leadership and character
5By Gaynor’s PapaThe gripping narrative is drawn from an amazing collection of logs recorded as history unfolded. Somehow these logs and their authors miraculously survived the worst marine environment on earth.