Overview

In 1895 Joshua Slocum set sail from Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the Spray, a thirty-seven-foot sloop. More than three years later, he became the first man to circumnavigate the globe solo, and his account of that voyage, Sailing Alone Around the World, made him internationally famous. But scandal soon followed, and a decade later, with his finances failing, he set off alone once more-never to be seen again. In this definitive portrait of an icon of adventure, Geoffrey Wolff describes, with authority and admiration, a life that would see hurricanes, shipwrecks, pirate attacks, cholera, smallpox, and no shortage of personal tragedy.

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9780307745453

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<p> Wolff's book, written in muscular, academic prose, fills in the gaps [and] focuses on the legend at the peak of his powers. --Abe Streep, Outside Magazine <br> A fascinating true story...and what a rich portrait [Wolff] assembles. --Irene Wanner, The Seattle Times <br> Adroitly and economically told, The Hard Way Around is the best of books: a literary biography that also happens to be an adventure story. After finishing this little book (which I did not want to end), I decided it was worthy of the admonition the British children's writer Arthur Ransome directed toward prospective readers of Slocum's narrative: those 'who do not like this book ought to be drowned at once.' --Nathaniel Philbrick, The New York Times Book Review <br> On [ Sailing Alone Around the World 's] last page Slocum boasted, 'No king, no country, no treasury at all, was taxed for the voyage of the Spray, and she accomplished all that she undertook to do.' Geoffrey Wolff has done the sam

Author Information

Geoffrey Wolff is the author of five works of nonfiction and six novels. In 1994 he received the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Bath, Maine.

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