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A review by katiescho741
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
4.0
4.5 stars.
So much story and information packed into a fairly short book. Philbrick weaves the story of the Essex and her crew between snippets of the history of whaling, Nantucket, and exploration. I enjoyed the parts about the romanticizing of whaling compared to the backbreaking work and low pay of reality.
The story of the Essex is intense and grim - full of "what ifs..." missed chances, mixed luck, and personal choices. The maps in this book are great, and I like that they appear throughout the book depending on where we are in the story. The picture section is very good too, and I liked the mix of portraits and evidence from the Essex with images and maps of old Nantucket and, of course, the whales.
I've read a lot of misadventure books, and this one is interesting because the disaster comes not long after we read about the crew slaughtering and butchering poor whales. Part of me was thinking "they got what was coming to them", but part of me was horrified and thinking "no one deserves this".
An excellent book if you've got a strong stomach!
So much story and information packed into a fairly short book. Philbrick weaves the story of the Essex and her crew between snippets of the history of whaling, Nantucket, and exploration. I enjoyed the parts about the romanticizing of whaling compared to the backbreaking work and low pay of reality.
The story of the Essex is intense and grim - full of "what ifs..." missed chances, mixed luck, and personal choices. The maps in this book are great, and I like that they appear throughout the book depending on where we are in the story. The picture section is very good too, and I liked the mix of portraits and evidence from the Essex with images and maps of old Nantucket and, of course, the whales.
I've read a lot of misadventure books, and this one is interesting because the disaster comes not long after we read about the crew slaughtering and butchering poor whales. Part of me was thinking "they got what was coming to them", but part of me was horrified and thinking "no one deserves this".
An excellent book if you've got a strong stomach!