A Lecture at the End

It was a decent read but it ends with a lecture about the poor blokes working away on these ships as perpetrators of the colonial power structure and their leaders as a smarmy group of lying scum. Whatever, man… I should give up on modern books, I guess, and just stick to the classics to avoid these gotcha Marxist screeds. Time to stop buying this stuff at $32 a book, too, and just go to the library, especially at 257 pages. Nice pictures, though. ( )

Tells the story of the ship, Wager, as it goes out with other ships to locate the Spanish Armada and attack it or Spanish ships and bring back the plunder from them. The Wager makes it as far as the Cape of Good Horn when it is shipwrecked and the sailors become castaways on an island there.

I enjoyed this book. I learned how long it took for a ship to be readied for a journey. I also learned how the British got sailors for their ships if enough men had not signed on. It was interesting to travel with them as they leave England going out to the Atlantic and down the coast of South America. When the ship wrecks and the men become castaways, they are resourceful in creating a "town" on the island. They use whatever can be found, doing this as they are sick, starving, and weak. The captain tries to maintain naval regulations, but the gunner has become the leader of the group because of his abilities and leading style. When many of the men decide to go back to England via Argentina, the captain tries to stop them but does not have enough men to stop them. Was it mutiny? The captain also shoots a man because of his failure to follow commands. Was it murder? The group that stayed on the island decide to leave it via Chile. I won't tell you how their story ends. I learned how long it takes some of these journeys. I could not have made it. Many of the men didn't because of starvation, disease, accidents, and other causes.

I learned about an incident I never knew about. I like David Grann's writing and look forward to his next book. ( )

An incredible story - blows my mind what these people endured and survived. The narrative almost sells it short - I feel like the book could’ve been longer and given more detail on their journey back. ( )

David Grann delivers a gripping tale with The Wager, diving deep into an epic story of survival, betrayal, and the darker sides of human nature. Through meticulous research and vivid storytelling, Grann brings to life the harrowing experiences of shipwrecked sailors struggling against impossible odds.

The narrative feels both thrilling and immersive, as Grann expertly balances historical detail with the raw emotions of his characters. It's a story that’s as much about resilience and morality as it is about adventure, making it hard to put down.

If you’re a fan of true tales that keep you on the edge of your seat, The Wager is a must-read! ( )

This novel is absolutely terrifying. Every single "adventure" these sailors endured is a deep nightmare of mine, and they lived a different harrowing event every single day. Starvation, mutiny, murder, tempest seas, drowning, illness, amputation, animal torture (luckily not written in great detail), shipwreck and more.

Grann did something that very few writers can do - he retold a story based on true events and had The Wager read like a fiction novel. I don't read a ton of non-fiction, as I have to live it every day, but I am certainly grateful I didn't have to live a single hour that these sailors did.

High school history class doesn't touch on most of the world's ugly background, but Grann gave us one account of what our ancestors went through .

It took a minute to find the write pace, but once I did, I couldn't put this book down. It was awful, but I had to know what happened next. I cannot fathom how some of these men made it back alive after what they lived through. Even though the tales differed slightly from one account to the next, it was clear that these men all underwent the absolute worst conditions a human could withstand. Each of them were awful in some way or another, but ugh, what a terror.

This book was a gift, not one I would've picked up on my own, but I'm so glad I finished it. I can't stop talking about it either. If you want to hear about some awful history, grab this book. ( )