Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916-Quality Guarantee

Description

Combining rich historical detail and a harrowing, pulse-pounding narrative, Closeto Shore brilliantly re-creates the summer of 1916, when a rogue Great White sharkattacked swimmers along the New Jersey shore, triggering mass hysteria and launchingthe most extensive shark hunt in history.

In July 1916 a lone Great White left its usual deep-ocean habitat and headed inthe direction of the New Jersey , near the towns of Beach Havenand Spring Lake–and, incredibly, a farming community eleven miles inland–the mostferocious and unpredictable of predators began a deadly rampage: the first sharkattacks on swimmers in U.S. history.

Capuzzo interweaves a vivid portrait of the era and meticulously drawn characterswith chilling accounts of the shark’s five attacks and the frenzied hunt that ensued. From the unnerving inevitability of the first attackon the esteemed son of a prosperous Philadelphia physician to the spine-tinglingmoment when a farm boy swimming in Matawan Creek feels the sandpaper-like skin ofthe passing shark, Close to Shore is an undeniably gripping saga.

Heightening thedrama are stories of the resulting panic in the citizenry, press and politicians,and of colorful personalities such as Herman Oelrichs, a flamboyant millionaire whomade a bet that a shark was no match for a man (and set out to prove it); Museumof Natural History ichthyologist John Treadwell Nichols, faced with the challengeof stopping a mythic sea creature about which little was known; and, most memorable,the rogue Great White itself moving through a world that couldn’t conceive of eitherits destructive power or its moral right to destroy.

Scrupulously researched andsuperbly written, Close to Shore brings to life a breathtaking, pivotal moment inAmerican history. Masterfully written and suffused with fascinating period detailand insights into the science and behavior of sharks, Close to Shore
recounts a breathtaking,pivotal moment in American history with startling immediacy.