#david grann

for sure!!

The Wager: A Tale Of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder is a non fiction book by David Grann about the 1741 wreck of The Wager, She was a British naval ship that was part of a squadron meant to hunt Spanish ships and attack their ports and colonies on the Western coast of South America. To do so, the six ships that were part of the mission had to pass around the southernmost tip of Patagonia, which at the time was one of the most remote and inaccessible areas of the world, and through some of the most dangerous and chaotic seas in the world. The Wager wrecked on a remote island on the Western side of Patagonia after losing sight of the convoy, and years later, three different groups of survivors eventually appeared to tell their stories. The book goes through first hand accounts from a number of primary sources to cut through the conflicting narratives that were published at the time to try and determine what really happened on the voyage, and determine who (if anyone) should be held accountable for the loss of the ship and death of many seamen.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Grann is a really effective history writer and I think it's a great read for just about anyone. I actually read almost the entire thing while communing back and forth on the subway. It's certainly not difficult, and while it looks imposing (it's quite a hefty book), the prose is super approachable while not being pandering. That being said, it's not the most exciting book I've ever read, but as someone interested in maritime history, I enjoyed it a lot. I borrowed my copy from the library and finished it in a little over a month.

And though Mollie’s three sisters had wed white men, she felt a responsibility to have an arranged Osage marriage, the way her parents had. Still, Mollie, whose family practiced a mixture of Osage and Catholic beliefs, couldn’t understand why God would let her find love, only to then take it away from her. So, in 1917, she and Ernest exchanged rings, vowing to love each other till eternity.

Mollie relied on Ernest for support. A lawyer who knew them both noted that his “devotion to his Indian wife and his children is unusual…and striking.”

A Justice Department official had noted that her “illness is very suspicious, to say the least.” It was urgent, the official went on, to “get this patient to some reputable hospital for diagnosis and treatment free from the interference of her husband.”

Burkhart never admitted having any knowledge that Mollie was being poisoned. Perhaps this was the one sin that he couldn’t bear to admit. Or perhaps Hale had not trusted him to kill his own wife.

An attorney assisting the prosecution asked whether she’d feel better if agents brought her to see Ernest. “That is all I wanted,” she said.

The death of his daughter, the haunting face of his wife each day at the trial, the realization that the evidence against him was piling up—it was too much to withstand. “I’m absolutely helpless,” Burkhart said.

By the time Morrison was convicted of Anna’s murder, Mollie could no longer look at Ernest. She soon divorced him, and whenever her husband’s name was mentioned, she recoiled in horror.