Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors

by Edward E. Leslie

Book Overview

Here are the most remarkable stories imaginable of maroons, castaways, and other survivors from the 1500s to the present - their moral dilemmas, their personalities, and their influence on society, literature, and art.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395911508
• ISBN13: 9780395911501
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 608 Pages
• Weight: 1.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.3" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

unforgettable and gripping!

this is one of the few books i've read that i can't get out of my mind. i keep thinking about the different stories. i lend it out far too often! you don't have to read it all at once; it's a great book to dip into.

Do not you ever think that you are in trouble !

This book is a must for every reader who likes survival stories.Selected here events (on the land and sea) are absolutely astonishing and ranging in time from 16th century to modern times. Tragedy of whale ship "Essex" is included.Great research and great writing Mr. Leslie, I congratulate you for this !

if you like tales of survival...

I wondered if people were ever REALLY trapped on desert islands for years (a la Gilligan and "Cast Away"), and if so, what would it do to them psychologically? This is the perfect book to answer that. Some folks have spiritual revelations, some give up the idea of god altogether, some go crazy. And who survives, and who dies of panic or bad planning? All incredibly interesting. Stories range from pirate mutinies to a woman trapped under her car on a snowy road... oh, and those Japanese soldiers in WWII who didn't know the war ended! What a lot of good stories.After reading this, I had this strange period of looking at the world from the point of view of a castaway... "what is useful to me in this situation? What can be salvaged here?", which was interesting, to say the least. Any book that gives you a new way to think deserves 5 stars!

Addictive!

This book was obviously exhaustively researched, as it spares no details in the dozens of true and horrifying accounts of people throughout the ages who were trapped in hopeless survival situations. Many lived, many did not... The only flaw in this teriffic book is that it may be a bit long and seems to lose momentum before the end. It could have been a third shorter and still been as powerful and just as fascinating. I was a little disappointed that the author did not cover the Raft of the Medusa or the Donner Party, as they would fit perfectly into this book. Perhaps he thought they've already been studies more thoroughly by other reasearchers. But it was still very much worth reading and never got boring. I was surprised at how many instances of civilized cannibalism have occured throughout history! I would recommend this book to anyone interested in survival or human psychology.

BEST collection of survival stories I've ever came across!

"True stories of Castaways and Other Survivors" This is a superb mix of 20+ different types of survival stories. From the Poor Englishman who landed on a barren isle that "had neither springs nor streams and was utterly devoid of vegetation: no grass, plants, or trees" and managed to live for a full year and be rescued -to- The Headhunter's Casket, which in part reads, "...two issues should be examined and resolved. The first involves an individual's responsibility or guilt for actions taken to ensure his survival. The second has to do with the lasting effects of ordeals." It is truely some of the best reading and information, of this type, I've EVER come across.