The Wager (David Grann)

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
David Grann
Doubleday
Nonfiction, History/True Stories
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: In 1740, a small fleet of British vessels set sail on a mission of great national importance: to capture a Spanish galleon loaded with treasure from their New World conquests sailing the Pacific Ocean. They were to make the treacherous crossing around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America and proceed up the coast to intercept the vessel, claiming a rare prize and blackening the eye of a bitter enemy. With them sailed the Wager, a retrofitted merchant ship on its first major military operation. But a black star hung over the entire mission from the start, and after a disastrous rounding of the Horn, the fleet lost sight of the Wager.
Two years later, a raft of castaways drifted into port on the Brazilian coast, claiming to be survivors of the shipwrecked Wager. Most of the crew and the captain were lost, they claimed... until years later, when another small craft of survivors was found off Chile's coast, including Captain David Cheap - who accused the previous group of being murderous mutineers who had left him and a handful of others to die. The story would rock England, raising questions that linger to this day. What really happened to the Wager in their long exile on a deserted island? Was the captain to blame for the misfortune, or the so-called mutineers? And why was the whole thing eventually covered up?

REVIEW: In its time, the story of the Wager was top news, inspiring numerous writers such as Lord Byron, but today few recall it. Grann digs into the conflicting accounts - by Captain Cheap, by the young midshipman John Byron (grandfather of the well-known poet Lord Byron), the leader of the possible-mutineers, gunner John Bulkeley, among other eyewitnesses and background material - to try to unravel the truth, unearthing along the way a tragedy that was almost inevitable from before the ships left the Thames.
The War of Jenkins' Ear, as it came to be known, was just the latest in a string of largely-contrived excuses for the English and the Spaniards to throw countless lives and copious amounts of money at their empire-building rivals. To that end, the English admiralty concocted a daring and rather foolhardy plan to surprise a Spanish treasure ship - not in the Atlantic, but in the Pacific. As usual, the people who sat in their war rooms concocting such plans seemed not to know or care about the logistics of such an endeavor, starting with ill-maintained ships with press-ganged crews (including several dragged from retirement homes for old sailors just to fill berths) and continuing through the immense difficulties of navigating Cape Horn, with perhaps the most treacherous waters of the world. The fact that it was many years before a system to correctly calculate a ship's longitudinal location made it all the more dangerous. Even before then, the Wager's crew had been disrupted by sickness (typhoid and scurvy; in the days before disease vectors were understood, both were commonly death sentences) and not one but two changes in their captain. This was how David Cheap finally got his coveted commission, and his determination to prove himself to the commodore in charge of the fleet (and the greater admiralty, not to mention himself) may be part of what led to the disaster.
Damaged in the deadly seas off the Horn, the Wager fell behind, ultimately finding its grave off an island surrounded by treacherous shoals and harboring minimal food. Here, by his own accounting, Cheap tried to create some sort of order along the strict lines dictated in the British naval code, meeting almost immediate resistance from a few obstinate men and only growing more authoritarian as their situation grew more grim. Bulkeley, a religious man but also a commoner, kept rigorous records of his own, and the tale he recorded contradicted the captain's at several points: from his point of view, the captain was at least partly to blame for their wreck, and once on the island lost control of the situation and himself, to the point of literal murder. Mindful that he might well be hanged for mutiny, the gunner actually took the unprecedented step of publishing his journals, among the first commoners to do so, thus capturing the public's imagination long before anyone else could get home... but the public, as always, could be fickle in their loyalties. Midshipman Byron, meanwhile, has yet another perspective, though his are more clearly colored by his privileged upbringing (and a childhood spent binging fanciful tales of maritime adventures) and his ultimate loyalty to the captain (and his own social class); even he does not always corroborate Cheap's account. The fact that anyone survived at all is little short of miraculous, let alone multiple parties - all of whom eventually end up before their superiors in England, in a trial that ultimately is more about show than uncovering the truth.
As the story unfolds, Grann does a decent job establishing the people, the times, and the world of 18th century sailing and naval battles, as well as the horrific conditions and psychological collapse as things go from barely tolerable to far, far worse. Once again, I'm amazed that anyone actually survived those voyages, even without shipwrecks involved. Grann also notes how much of what happens ultimately lies at the feet of the power structures at the time and their determination to press their imperial claims and cultural superiority (and grab all the wealth and resources and land), no matter the cost in lives to their own subjects (or the indigenous cultures, who were potential slaves at best and inconveniences to be eliminated at worst). Even among themselves, concerns over classism ultimately determined whose story was most respected and remembered. The whole "war" that sent so many sailors and officers on the Wager to their dooms was almost literally over nothing, and gained nothing tangible for either side. There are some places where Grann loses the thread of the story in the weeds of extraneous detail and tangents, and others where he glosses over points or doesn't seem to follow up earlier hints of trouble (the way official logs were deliberately sabotaged long before mutiny was on the table, for instance, spoke to other secrets of the voyage that were never explored or even speculated on). Taken all together, though, this is a solid tale of a maritime disaster that deserves to be remembered.

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Lost in the Valley of Death (Harley Rustad)

Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas
Harley Rustad
Harper
Nonfiction, Biography/Survival/True Stories
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: For most of his life, Justin Alexander Shetler was driven to test himself against the wilderness, always pushing to climb higher and hike further and endure harsher and more primitive conditions. He was a restless soul, always searching for a connection or transformative experience that would give him peace and meaning, which always seemed to be just beyond the next bend or over the next hill. Justin chronicled his travels on social media, garnering a devoted following, even as he often dropped off the grid for more extreme adventures. As with so many restless souls seeking adventure and enlightenment, he eventually found himself in India, a land long elevated to mythological status by outsiders. Here, in the wild and nearly lawless hinterlands of the Parvati Valley, Justin hoped to discover the spiritual answers and peace that had always eluded him. He found a cave to live in, and a sadhu, or holy man, to teach him. Then, in late summer of 2016, the 35-year-old adventurer announced online that he was going on a trek to a holy lake high in the mountains in hopes of a transcendental experience. If he didn't come back, he told his audience with a winking emoji, don't look for him.
Those were the last words he would ever share.
As his days of silence grew to weeks and months, family and friends around the world began to worry, and realized something was very wrong. The Parvati Valley, after all, is not just known for its spiritual sites and natural beauty, but for a thriving (and illegal) cannabis trade and numerous unexplained disappearances. The sadhu he was last known to be associated with had a less-than-holy reputation, and some were concerned by how Justin seemed so enraptured by the man. And the local police were unmotivated to look into the whereabouts of yet another foreigner who was most likely just there for the high-quality hash and had probably fallen afoul of a trafficker, if he hadn't just slipped off a trail into the ever-hungry Parvati River. As overseas efforts to search out the truth coalesced, many reflected on Justin's life and the path that led him to India, and if that path suggested a way for him to still be alive when all evidence suggested otherwise...

REVIEW: Yet another random audiobook selection, this is the story of a man living a life without guardrails who seemingly finally took one risk too many. Rustad chronicles his life from a restless, nomadic, and troubled childhood where wilderness schools and programs were his only refuge to the man who never quite grew up or figured out how to settle or find peace, unwilling or unable to form deeper human connections while his inner turmoil and unanswered spiritual questions tormented him. He tried and discarded numerous spiritual teachings and personas, none seeming to offer what he needed or wanted, never at home in his own skin or life. Even his online persona was curated to present an image of himself that was more truth-adjacent than unvarnished reality, which ultimately hindered efforts to search for him, as too many believed he was indestructible or had just hared off on an even more extreme adventure than he'd started on. There is a faint hint of a possibility that maybe that is what he did - as more than one person pointed out, if anyone was capable of cutting all ties with civilization and living completely off the grid and out of contact, it was Justin Alexander - but Occam's razor suggests a more straightforward and ultimately tragic end, for all that no body was ever found. Along the way, Rustad explores how and why so many people seem compelled to turn to the "other" culture, or rather their outsider's distorted view of that culture, in search of greater meaning: for instance, appropriating sweat lodges and vision quests and mishmashed teachings from various Native American cultures without regard for the real roots and nuances and meanings of those rituals and teachings, or even honoring where they originated. India may well be the ultimate target of this mentality and has been for centuries via rhapsodic travel writing and literature, transforming the country in "Western" minds into something so exotic and steeped in spirituality and larger than life that there is an actual (unofficial) term for visitors who become overwhelmed and experience mental health episodes: India Syndrome. (The fact that there are certain native plants and drugs with potentially devastating effects, sometimes used by the unscrupulous to facilitate crimes, also may play into some outsiders' ideas that simply setting foot in India is enough to trigger a transformative spiritual experience.) Something about India exerts an inexorable pull on certain people, many of whom never return home for various reasons (not always accidents or foul play; every year, local authorities round up dozens of foreigners who simply chose to overstay their visas, unable to bring themselves to leave).
There are times when Rustad seems to be repeating himself, and later on he reveals some pretty important information on young Justin's formative years that might explain some of his unresolved pain and unprocessed traumas, the holes he was forever trying to fill, which casts his extreme life and probable death in a whole new light. He also ventures into the weeds a bit discussing other unresolved disappearances in the Parvati Valley that foreshadow Justin's fate, even as he offers a glimpse of just what it was about India in general and the Parvati Valley in particular that was so alluring. Ultimately, though, Rustad does a decent job summing up a man determined to live as full a life as possible and push himself as far as he could go, always hoping that the next adventure would be the one to give his life meaning and find peace, for all that he often seemed to be chasing phantoms so ill-defined he couldn't even say for certain just what "meaning" or "peace" would look like if he glimpsed them. One can only hope, whatever happened to him, that he found that peace he was searching for in the wilds of the Himalayas.

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The Lost Tomb (Douglas Preston)

The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burial, and Murder
Douglas Preston
Grand Central Publishing
Nonfiction, Archaeology/True Crime/History/Sociology/True Stories
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: A string of grisly murders in Florence, Italy and an investigation hijacked by politics and personal agendas... An ancient Egyptian tomb of unrivaled size and scope unearthed after long being dismissed as insignificant... One of the longest-running and most expensive treasure hunts in history on a small Canadian island... The possible evolutionary roots of online vitriol run amok... These and more stories, drawn from the articles and research of author and journalist Douglas Preston, are gathered in this volume.

REVIEW: One of the great things about books is the ability to vicariously experience a bigger, bolder, wider life that is remotely possible for an unremarkable, broke lardlump like myself. Here, Douglas Preston republishes (with updates and annotations) articles from his long history of journalism and related research on all manner of topics, proving yet again that if reality may not always be stranger than fiction, it can sure give fiction a run for its money. He manages to bring the subjects, the people, the controversies, and more to life in his words, and generally writes complete enough articles that one isn't unduly frustrated by omissions or obvious blind spots (as in some article-based books I've read). The updates are also fairly up to date, as the book was published in December 2023 and I'm reviewing this audiobook in April 2024. From the amateur paleontologist who discovered a once-in-a-lifetime window into the day that ended the dinosaurs to investigations into why so many online communities seem to build themselves around hate and punishment of the perceived Other, from the Oak Island "money pit" to the deserts of the American Southwest and the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, Preston's tales take the reader around the world and across time to encounter all manner of mysteries, controversies, and colorful characters. It made for an enjoyable read (or listen, this being another audiobook selection), and a reminder of how very small and pointless my own particular existence has been, is, and doubtless will continue to be until it ceases.

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The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston)

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story
Douglas Preston
Grand Central Publishing
Nonfiction, Cultures/History/True Stories
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Since the days of Cortes, when conquerors came to the New World with dreams of riches and empires and first set eyes on the alien-seeming cultures of Central and South America, stories have trickled back to Western civilization about lost cities, from the well-known tale of El Dorado to the mystery of Machu Picchu. Among these were enigmatic references to a white-walled city deep in the forbidding mountains and rain forests of what is now Honduras, glimpsed now and again by the odd traveler and referred to in numerous local stories. For a long time, these were dismissed as the tall tales of travelers, or possibly wishful thinking and mistaken identity, but in every generation were adventurers and believers who risked everything in the search. In this book, writer Douglas Preston relates the history and prehistory of the American civilizations and the search for the so-called "lost city of the monkey god"... and his own involvement in the expedition that finally unearthed the possible truth behind the legend, a truth grander and more unbelievable than any tall tale.

REVIEW: Sometimes truth really does seem stranger than fiction. Here, Preston relates the story of a groundbreaking expedition deep into one of the few pristine wildernesses left in the world, in pursuit of a mystery that many experts had long dismissed as mere fancy but which turns out to have some basis in reality after all (no spoiler for saying they actually do find something - more than just one thing, actually). From the perils of snakes and ants and disease to the unfathomable difficulty of even getting around in the rain forest, plus the perils of politics in perhaps one of the most volatile regions of the Americas (and the related politics of archaeology in general), it seems utterly incredible that not only did the explorers survive, but accomplished so much. Along the way, Preston discusses the history and prehistory of the region and the search, the allure and romance of "lost cities" in the Western world (and how the notions are inextricably tied with colonialism and a sense of cultural superiority, the "right" to claim and plunder whatever one sets one's eyes upon regardless of whose property, or story, it truly is), even how expeditions like the one he becomes involved with play into national and international politics. The people involved sometimes seem larger than life, and the search takes twists and turns aplenty as it wends through history and various obstacles and setbacks, not to mention the fallout of success. Along the way, the grandeur and dangerous beauty of the remote Honduras wilderness comes to life, as well as the awe-inspiring accomplishments of the city's builders and the incalculable tragedy of their collapse. The chapters on the unimaginably devastating effects of European diseases on the Americas and the risks of disease today (as the author and other expedition members discover the hard way) take on new significance after the height of the recent pandemic that shows how vulnerable even our "superior" global civilization is to illness, and how (to be blunt) screwed we're going to be if we don't take the lessons of the past - distant and recent - seriously as the changing climate allows "exotic" tropical illnesses and parasites to spread to new populations. Once in a while the names can run together a bit, but overall this is an interesting account of an incredible find and its impact on the explorers involved, expanding our understanding of a fascinating region and period of history.

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Donkey Heart Monkey Mind (Djaffur Chetouane and Rachel Jackson)

Donkey Heart Monkey Mind
Djaffur Chetouane and Rachel Jackson
CPC
Nonfiction?, Autobiography/True Life
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: In 1980's Algeria, surviving amid corruption and scarcity takes strength and wits, not to mention choosing friends and enemies with care. For the Berbers, native North Africans suppressed and marginalized by centuries of invaders, life is even more precarious - even their native language is outlawed. Like many young men, Djaffur chafes under these restrictions. He joins fellow Berbers at his university in speaking out against their oppression, and finds himself on the wrong end of a deeply corrupt political machine that thinks nothing of torturing or even murdering its own citizens. Seeing nothing for himself but a future of dirt-poor living and prejudice in his native Algeria, Djaffur determines to flee the country... an escape fraught with false starts, close calls, setbacks, and missteps that nearly cost him his life.

REVIEW: I grabbed this during a freebie Kindle download window; it seemed like a change of pace, and North Africa is one of the many parts of the world I hear mentioned in the news but don't really know that much about. Chetouane paints a grim picture of a world sunk so far into its own corruption that true liberty and reform seem impossible, with attitudes too deeply ingrained in their society to ever be rooted out. Even here, though, one can find glimmers of kindness and even hope if one looks hard enough. His own journey from oppression to freedom sees him on the wrong side of the law more often than not, mostly as a matter of raw survival. I wound up clipping it a half-point because of occasionally thick politics (integral to understanding the full extent of the forces aligned against the Berbers, and the majority of North Africans in general, but still dense enough to trip up the narrative), plus some irritating formatting issues in the Kindle edition. Overall, Chetouane's tale reads like something out of a movie, a story of desperation and depravation and even personal enlightenment, made all the more incredible by the fact that it actually happened.

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