The Old Man and the Gun: And Other Tales of True Crime

A “TOUR DE FORCE OF NARRATIVE NONFICTION” (WSJ) WITH OVER ONE YEAR ON THE NYT BEST SELLER LIST <BR><BR>From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.<BR><BR>A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, TIME, Smithsonian, NPR, Vulture<BR><BR>“Riveting...Reads like a thriller, tackling a multilayered history—and imperialism—with gusto.” —Time<BR><BR>On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.<BR><BR>But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang.<BR><BR>The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.

Der internationale Bestseller, der auch in Deutschland zum Kult-Phänomen wurde: Jetzt endlich als Taschenbuch!*Wochenlang auf den Bestsellerlisten der New York Times und des SPIEGEL<BR>*Eines von Barack Obamas 'Favorite Books of 2023'<BR>*Auf der Longlist für den Baillie Gifford Prize für Non-Fiction 2023<BR>*Vielfaches Buch des Jahres<BR>*In 25 Sprachen übersetzt'Die größte Seefahrtsgeschichte, die je erzählt wurde.' The Spectator'Ein spannender Bericht ... dramatisch und fesselnd.' The Economist'Liest sich wie ein Thriller.' Time MagazineJanuar 1742. Ein windschiefes Segelboot strandet an der Küste Brasiliens, an Bord 30 Männer, die einzigen Überlebenden des königlichen Eroberungsschiffs 'Wager', das in einem Sturm zerschellt ist. Sechs Monate später: Drei Schiffbrüchige werden in Chile an Land gespült und erklären die 30 Männer zu Meuterern, die skrupellos gemordet hätten ... Wer lügt, wer sagt die Wahrheit? Das soll ein britisches Kriegsgericht entscheiden. Es geht um Leben oder Tod. David Grann spinnt aus dem Archivmaterial eines historischen Kriminalfalls eine packende und atmosphärisch dichte Abenteuererzählung. Schuld und Unschuld, Treue und Verrat liegen eng beieinander, und am Ende kommt eine schockierende Wahrheit zutage ...In hochwertiger Ausstattung mit Bildteilen und KartenAusstattung: mit Karten und Farbbildteil

**NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING ROBERT PATTINSON, CHARLIE HUNNAM AND SIENNA MILLER**<BR><BR>The story of Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, the inspiration behind Conan Doyle's The Lost World<BR><BR> Fawcett was among the last of a legendary breed of British explorers. For years he explored the Amazon and came to believe that its jungle concealed a large, complex civilization, like El Dorado. Obsessed with its discovery, he christened it the City of Z. In 1925, Fawcett headed into the wilderness with his son Jack, vowing to make history. They vanished without a trace.<BR><BR> For the next eighty years, hordes of explorers plunged into the jungle, trying to find evidence of Fawcett's party or Z. Some died from disease and starvation; others simply disappeared. In this spellbinding true tale of lethal obsession, David Grann retraces the footsteps of Fawcett and his followers as he unravels one of the greatest mysteries of exploration.<BR><BR>‘A riveting, exciting and thoroughly compelling tale of adventure’ JOHN GRISHAM<BR><BR> ‘A wonderful story of a lost age of heroic exploration’ Sunday Times<BR><BR> ‘Marvellous ... An engrossing book whose protagonist could out-think Indiana Jones’ Daily Telegraph<BR><BR>‘The best story in the world, told perfectly’ Evening Standard

Verfilmt als "Killers of the Flower Moon" von Martin Scorsese mit Leonardo DiCaprio und Robert De Niro: Filmstart 2023In den 1920ern hatten nicht die Bewohner von New York oder Paris das höchste Pro-Kopf-Einkommen: die reichsten Menschen der Welt waren die Osage-Indianer im amerikanischen Bundesstaat Oklahoma. Das karge Land, das ihnen als Reservat zugewiesen worden war, barg gigantische Ölvorkommen. Doch der Reichtum brachte den Osage kein Glück: Eine mysteriöse Serie von Morden nahm ihren Anfang, der Dutzende Stammesmitglieder zum Opfer fallen sollten. Die Osage-Morde wurden zum ersten großen Fall für das noch junge FBI. Doch Korruption und Geldgier hatten auch hier bereits Einzug gehalten. Erst einer Gruppe von Undercover-Agenten gelingt es schließlich, diese wohl finsterste und spektakulärste Mordserie in der Geschichte der USA aufzuklären.- Verfilmt als "Killers of the Flower Moon" von Martin Scorsese mit Leonardo DiCaprio und Robert De Niro: Kinostart 20. Oktober 2023- Ausgezeichnet mit dem weltweit wichtigsten Krimipreis Edgar-Award in der Kategorie Best Fact Crime.- New York Times-Bestseller.- 'Ein bravouröser Fact-Thriller' (stern crime)- 'Grandios recherchiert.' (Wieland Freund, DIE WELT)

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Lost City of Z, a mesmerizing story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth<BR><BR>On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.<BR><BR>But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they had a very different story to tell. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous captain and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang.<BR><BR>The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound. Most powerfully, he unearths the deeper meaning of the events, showing that it was not only the Wager’s captain and crew who were on trial – it was the very idea of empire.