Surviving the Essex (K/HC) | Historic Naval Fiction

David O. Dowling has a new book available for pre-order in various formats, Surviving the Essex: The Afterlife of America’s Most Storied Shipwreck. It will be available for kindle download worldwide on 12 April 2016 and the Hardcover and Paperback versions will also be released in the US on that date. In the UK the print versions will be released on 26 May 2016.

Surviving the Essex tells the captivating story of a ship’s crew battered by whale attack, broken by four months at sea, and forced-out of necessity-to make meals of their fellow survivors. Exploring the Rashomon-like Essex accounts that complicate and even contradict first mate Owen Chase’s narrative, David O. Dowling examines the vital role of point of view in shaping how an event is remembered and delves into the ordeal’s submerged history-the survivors’ lives, ambitions, and motives, their pivotal actions during the desperate moments of the wreck itself, and their will to reconcile those actions in the short- and long-term aftermath of this storied event.

Mother of all whale tales, Surviving the Essex acts as a sequel to Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea, while probing deeper into the nature of trauma and survival accounts, an extreme form of notoriety, and the impact that the story had on Herman Melville and the writing of Moby-Dick.

Source: Surviving the Essex (K/HC) | Historic Naval Fiction

The Essex and the Whale (HC) | Historic Naval Fiction

R. D. Madison (Editor) has a new book available for pre-order in Hardcover, The Essex and the Whale: Melville’s Leviathan Library and the Birth of Moby-Dick. It will be released in the UK on 28 March 2016 and in the US on 30 May 2016.

This fascinating anthology introduces readers to the literary side of Herman Melville’s whaling world with an unprecedented collection of the original whaling texts from which Melville drew to create his masterpiece, Moby-Dick.

* Offers the full text of Owen Chase’s Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-ship Essex and lengthy excerpts from the texts of Melville’s other whaling books, gathered in one handy compendium.

* Presents an introduction and primary source selection by internationally known Melville scholar R. D. Madison (associate general editor of the Northwestern-Newberry Edition of the Writings of Herman Melville).

* Provides readers with a stand-alone coherent picture of whaling lore and the response to the Essex disaster in Melville’s time through the selection of primary sources

Source: The Essex and the Whale (HC) | Historic Naval Fiction

From Cabin ‘Boys’ to Captains (PB) | Historic Naval Fiction

Jo Stanley has a new book available for pre-order in Paperback, From Cabin ‘Boys’ to Captains: 250 Years of Women at Sea. It will be released in the UK on 4 April 2016 and in the US on 1 July 2016.

This lively yet scholarly book reveals an unsuspected history of women at sea, from women pirates and daring cabin “boys” under sail to today’s rear-admirals and weapons experts on nuclear submarines. Historically, women wanting to sail in their own right faced many challenges. They were rejected as nuisances and outsiders, trespassing into the male maritime tribe. Today they command cruise ships and are becoming commodores. This comprehensive work looks at both the merchant and royal navies, explaining women’s progression from outsider to master”—with male shipmates as obstacles and helping hands. Using interviews and sources never before published, Jo Stanley vividly reveals the incredible journey across time taken by women at sea.

Source: From Cabin ‘Boys’ to Captains (PB) | Historic Naval Fiction