In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (National Book Award Winner)

Nathaniel Philbrick

May 2001 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

From the author of Mayflower, Valiant Ambition, and In the Hurricane's Eye--the riveting bestseller tells the story of the true events that inspired Melville's Moby-Dick. 

Winner of the National Book Award, Nathaniel Philbrick's book is a fantastic saga of survival and adventure, steeped in the lore of whaling, with deep resonance in American literature and history.

In 1820, the whaleship Essex was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale, leaving the desperate crew to drift for more than ninety days in three tiny boats. Nathaniel Philbrick uses little-known documents and vivid details about the Nantucket whaling tradition to reveal the chilling facts of this infamous maritime disaster. In the Heart of the Sea, recently adapted into a major feature film starring Chris Hemsworth, is a book for the ages.

Ratings and reviews

You know you are reading a bad historian when you can see their own personal biases coming through. Clearly this writer feels Christians are hypocrites. He's got a major problem with devout quakers who also hunt whale commercially. So many judgemental and snarky comments! It is also pretty clear that the author has never spent any real time at sea, nor has he spent any time hunting. "Erotic bloodlust"...so lame.

The Heart of the Sea exposed the distinction between a historical novel and historical fiction. Nathaniel’s book was based purely upon research and mostly upon the sailors written accounts and the captains log of the journey in question. Thus the book didn’t contain much dialogue between characters but rather described interactions that did or likely did take place. The author also qualifies events as known from secondary research or probable by primary research. Thus history is offered with as much integrity to truth as reasonably possible. This is a contrast to historical fiction such as Aztec in which the author relies strongly on primary research of culture, history, anthropology and other disciplines to add verisimilitude to an otherwise fictional story. Both are equally valid forms of writing as far as I am concerned but it is useful to understand the distinction. Certainly a quality reading experience and a harrowing story.

Very informative and historical read, but gets a little slow at times. Still worth it for any sailor or Nantucket fan.

About the author

Nathaniel Philbrick is the author of In the Heart of the Sea, winner of the National Book Award; Mayflower, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Bunker Hill, Valiant Ambition; Sea of Glory; The Last Stand; Why Read Moby Dick?; and Away Off Shore. He lives in Nantucket.