The true story of five castaways abandoned on the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812 – a tale of treachery, shipwreck, isolation, and the desperate struggle for survival.
Dolin does justice to the drama of it all in a mere 259 pages of text without stinting on one of pleasures of reading 19th-century history: the wordsmithery of people high and low ... Dolin is an expert literary steersman.
Mr. Dolin’s firm grasp of the 19th-century maritime world is undeniable. Too often, however, the details in Left for Dead are presented as if they’re all equally important ... A story of this scope requires pacing, rhythm and foreshadowing. This is a masterly account of a historical event, but I found myself wishing that the historian had been a better storyteller.
This stunning account of shifting fortunes is riven with tension on every page, as Dolin provides detailed descriptions of bickering and backstabbing, tricky nautical maneuvers, and desperate survival techniques. It’s an edge-of-your-seat adventure.
