Lifeboat

""Lifeboat" is a fascinating and meticulously researched work to be enjoyed by seafarers and history buffs alike." -- Linda Greenlaw, author of "The Lobster Chronicles" and T "he Hungry Ocean ""Stilgoe has written a book that examines situations of such fear, despair, physical danger, and mental torment as most healthy minds cannot imagine. In so doing he shows us our reflection in a cruel sea; the image seldom flatters." -- "International Journal of Maritime History "" "Lifeboat" is a majestic, prodigious, mighty book." -- John Casey, National Book Award--winning author of "Spartina ""The author takes his readers (whether couch-anchored or ready to strain at the oar) on a magnificent voyage of discovery.... Stilgoe presents a virtual encyclopedia of incidents and actors skillfully integrated into the hows, whys, and responsibilities of disaster, rescue, or loss. Stirring tales crowd the pages; writers from Conrad, R. L. Stevenson, Nordhoff and Hall, Tomlinson, and Villiers through to the moderns are appositely quoted, while Stilgoe's deft introduction of forgotten classics -- some feeding the morbid reader's taste for cannibalism (passengers are eaten first) -- is of lasting value. Previously neglected historical and geographical information abounds; arcana such as U-boat etiquette for ship-sinking and survivor-treatment are also presented." -- "ForeWord ""John Stilgoe has taken one of his passions and transformed it into a solid piece of scholarship that is bound to enlighten and engage readers.... Through his copious references and brief tellings of many stories, [he] has not only whetted our appetites but has also given us the information we need to satisfy thoseappetites." -- J. Revell Carr, "WoodenBoat Review "Woven through "Lifeboat" are good old-fashioned yarns, thrilling tales of adventure that will quicken the pulse of readers who have enjoyed the novels of Patrick O'Brian, "Crabwalk" by Gnter Grass, or works of nonfiction such as "The Perfect Storm" and "In the Heart of the Sea." But Stilgoe, whose other works have plumbed suburban culture, locomotives, and the shore, is ultimately after bigger fish. Through the humble, much-ignored lifeboat, its design and navigation and the stories of its ultimate purpose, he has found a peculiar lens on roughly the past two centuries of human history, particularly the war-tossed, technology-driven history of man and the sea.John R. Stilgoe, Robert and Lois Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape at Harvard University, is the author of numerous books, including "Outside Lies Magic, "Alongshore," and "Landscapes and Images" (Virginia). He lives on the coast of "Massachusetts, where he sails a ship's lifeboat from Newfoundland, built in 1935.Stilgoe, John R. is the author of 'Lifeboat', published 2007 under ISBN 9780813926933 and ISBN 0813926939.