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Nathaniel Philbrick. In the Heart of the Sea
creative non-fiction

In 1819, Nantucket, as the center of the whaling industry in America, was on its way to becoming one of the wealthiest towns in the United States.  In that year the whaleship Essex departed the island for a routine voyage to hunt whales, just as over seventy other Nantucket-based whaleships would do that season.

The story of what would become of the Essex and its crew served as the inspiration for Melville in writing Moby Dick.  Nathaniel Philbrick, a renowned Nantucket historian, draws similar inspiration from the story and retells it in an equally artful and riveting way while staying in the realm of nonfiction.  Even within the first few chapters it’s easy to see why Philbrick earned the National Book Award for this work.

I read this book just before my last trip to Nantucket and it became a key reference point for me in walking the old streets, in reading the names on tombstones, and in visiting the town’s famous whaling museum.     ~ C. Bryan

 

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