Product Description

Here are the most remarkable stories imaginable of maroons, castaways, and other survivors from the 1500s to the present - their moral dilemmas, their personalities, and their influence on society, literature, and art.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #389158 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-15
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

From Publishers Weekly
With painstaking research, riveting detail and elegant prose, freelance writer Leslie here creates a keen psychological study as well as a paean to the courage, resourcefulness and perseverance of the human body and mind. This is a hefty chronicle of true stories, from the 1500s to the present day, about survivors of shipwrecks, maroonings and plane crashes, lost in every sort of climate and environment, struggling against animals, humans--savage and civilized--and the forces of nature. There is Peter Carder, who sailed in the 16th century with Drake, was castaway once and twice marooned, ingratiated himself with Brazilian cannibals and outwitted his Portuguese enemies. Leslie insightfully describes the real "Robinson Crusoe," Alexander Selkirk, a sailing master who quarreled with his captain and was stranded for four years on an island paradise off the coast of Chile in the early 1700s. The account of Marguerite de la Roque, a 16th century French woman who was betrayed as an adulterer by her adventurer cousin on an Atlantic voyage and then left to die, pregnant, on an island off the coast of Canada with her servant and her lover, is affecting. But for sheer thrills and inspiration, readers will be fascinated by the tale of the ill-planned and ill-fated Stefansson Polar expedition of 1913. Illustrated.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Surviving against insurmountable odds is the theme of these two disparate booksone a mass market paperback, the other a trade publication. Adams's book is a freewheeling, believe-it-or-not litany of death-defying feats of survivorship taken largely from the 20th century. Most of these mishaps involve aircraftcrashes, in-air collisions, and exiting disabled craft. Natural disaster survival stories cover avalanches, lighting, tornadoes, and earthquakes. A lack of editorial supervision has resulted in a lack of organization and cohesiveness. This journalistic effort could have been entitled "Best Disaster Stories from the National Enquirer." From Alexander Selkirk (the real-life model for Robinson Crusoe) to Antoine St.-Exupery, Leslie tells the stories of 20 men and women involved in shipwrecks, deliberate maroonings, and aircraft crashes. Each chapter covers one person's story, carefully footnoted and fleshed out with primary source materialoften from diaries. The bibliography is extensive; the footnotes annotated. A scholarly but highly readable treatment of a subject holding an inordinate fascination for many people. Adams's book will probably have more circulation, but buy both: Leslie's for the adult collection, Adams's for YA. Paula M. Zieselman, Debevoise & Plimpton, New York
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
This long, rambling book is a cross between an anthology and an academic study of people marooned on desert islands and adrift in boats. It's not the sort of book one ordinarily reads straight through at a uniform pace, the mode imposed by an audiobook. The writing is clear, but not distinctive. It's sometimes hard for a listener to tell where frequent lengthy excerpts from historical documents begin and end. Patrick Cullen's reading is serviceable. His sound is undistinguished but comfortable, and he maintains a sense of focus and interest even when the text meanders. J.N. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine