Best of
Survival

2001

In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors


Doug Stanton - 2001
    Interweaving the stories of survivors, Doug Stanton has brought this astonishing human drama to life in a narrative that is at once immediate and timeless. The definitive account of a little-known chapter in World War II history, In Harm's Way is destined to become a classic tale of war, survival, and extraordinary courage.On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained undetected by the navy for nearly four days and nights. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to stay alive, fighting off sharks, hypothermia, and dementia. The captain's subsequent court-martial left many questions unanswered: How did the navy fail to realize the Indianapolis was missing? And perhaps most amazing of all, how did these 317 men manage to survive?

South with Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition 1914-1917


Frank Hurley - 2001
    These images, appearing together here for the first time in print, constitute an amazing body of photojournalism created under the most adverse circumstances imaginable. As this book reveals, however, they are far more than visual reportage; they also are images of great artistry that capture the life-and-death drama that was played out against an arctic landscape of magnificent and terrible beauty.The story told here through Frank Hurley's lens began in the summer of 1914, when Shackleton and his crew set sail from England with the intention of being the first to cross Antarctica from one coast to the other, passing through the South Pole on the way. After five months they reached the freezing Weddell Sea and were within sight of land when the Endurance became trapped in the ice pack. Nine months later, the ship was finally crushed, leaving the crew stranded on drifting ice floes at the end of the earth.What followed is one of the most remarkable survival stories in the history of human exploration. Shackleton's men camped on the ice floes for five months before they escaped in their lifeboats and, after a harrowing five-day voyage, reached Elephant Island, a barren outcrop too remote for any hope of rescue. From there, Shackleton and five other volunteers set out for South Georgia Island and miraculously reached their destination after traversing 850 miles of the fiercest seas on the face of the planet in an open lifeboat. There they raised help, and three months later, after three failed attempts, Shackleton made it back to Elephant Island with a rescue ship.Incredibly, every single one of his men survived. Almost as incredible is the fact that so much of this drama was captured on film by Frank Hurley, and that so many of these pictures survived. South with Endurance is the first book to reproduce a total of nearly 500 extant photographs, including many remarkable color images that have never been published before. It is also the first to reproduce the photos to a standard and size that display Hurley's work as the art that it is. Drawn from the archives of the Royal Geographical Society in London, the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, and the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, the photographs are complemented by excerpts from Hurley's diary, a chapter about the expedition itself, a biographical essay, and commentary about Hurley's photographic techniques.

Dark Rivers of the Heart / Sole Survivor / Intensity


Dean Koontz - 2001
    His newest novel had a half-million copy first printing, and it went straight to the Number One position in its first week on The New York Times and Publishers Weekly Bestseller lists! His many fans will snap up this handsome foil-and-embossed volume, with three of his best works in one book. The perfect impulse buy or gift. The collection includes the complete and unabridged novels Dark Rivers of the Heart, Intensity, and Sole Survivor.

Coming Back Alive: The True Story of the Most Harrowing Search and Rescue Mission Ever Attempted on Alaska's High Seas


Spike Walker - 2001
    A fisherman's worst nightmare has become a Coast Guard crew's desperate mission. As the crew of the La Conte begin to die one by one, those sworn to watch over them risk everything to pull off the rescue of the century.Spike Walker's memoir of his years as a deckhand in Alaska, Working on the Edge, was hailed by James A. Michner as "masterful . . . will become the definitive account of this perilous trade, an addition to the literature of the sea." In Coming Back Alive, Walker has crafted his most devastating book to date. Meticulously researched through hundreds of hours of taped interviews with the survivors, this is the true account of the La Conte's final voyage and the relationship between Alaskan fishermen and the search and rescue crews who risk their lives to save them.

The Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race


G. Bruce Knecht - 2001
    Combining the best elements of The Perfect Storm (W.W. Norton, 1997) and Barbarians at the Gate (HarperCollins, 1990), "The Proving Ground" is a gripping narrative that follows the fates of three yachts, including Sayonara, owned by Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle. From the chilling explanation of how an Olympic sailor came to be catapulted from a yacht and why its crew could do nothing to save him, to the dramatic journeys of two leaky life-rafts, "The Proving Ground" is an exhilarating read.

Abandoned: The Story of the Greely Arctic Expedition 1881-1884


Alden Todd - 2001
    Launched in 1881 as part of the International Polar Year, the U.S. stationed a party of twenty-five men on what is today called Ellesmere Island off the northwest coast of Greenland. The volunteer crew was made up of 3 Army officers, 19 enlisted men, a civilian surgeon, and 2 Eskimo hunters. The commander of the group was thirty-seven-year-old Signal Corps Lieutenant Adolphus Washington Greely. During their first year on the ice, members of the expedition went farther toward the North Pole than anyone had gone before and collected a body of invaluable scientific data. The first supply ship sent to the men in the summer of 1882 was forced to turn back, and the men passed their second winter in isolation at their frigid basecamp. Personality clashes developed and grew steadily more intense. The second relief ship, sent in 1883, was crushed in the ice. Greely led his men south according to a prearranged plan, and they spent their third ice-bound winter encamped at Camp Sabine. Supplies ran out, the hunting failed, and the men began to die of starvation. In Washington an amazing controversy grew out of the failure of the rescue expeditions. Congress was reluctant to launch another attempt, but at last, largely because of the heroic efforts of Greely’s wife, Henrietta, the Navy was authorized to go in search of survivors. In the summer of 1884 the 6 survivors of the Greely expedition were safely returned home. The excitement which their rescue generated soon turned into a national scandal when rumors of cannibalism were supported by forensic evidence. Abandoned remains the most complete and authentic account of the Greely Expedition ever published. Included are 15 pages of maps and photographs.

Camping & Wilderness Survival, 2nd: The Ultimate Outdoors Book


Paul Tawrell - 2001
     This guide covers everything from fire making to first aid, building shelters, winter travel and much more. “ Camping & Wilderness Survival actually lives up to the hype of its subtitle. The Ultimate Outdoors Book is the fullest and finest work in the field since Horace Kephart’s timeless Camping and Woodcraft was published almost a century ago. ...I have read voraciously on camping and the outdoors all my life and possess a personal library of several thousand volumes in this field. Tawrell’s Camping & Wilderness Survival is, quite simply, one of the finest works of its sort I have ever encountered.”- Jim Casada: Special to the News & Record, Greensboro, NC

Last of the Saddle Tramps: One Woman's Seven Thousand Mile Equestrian Odyssey


Messanie Wilkins - 2001
    Some are adventurers seeking danger from the back of their horses. Others are travelers discovering the beauties of the countryside they slowly ride through. A few are searching for inner truths while cantering across desolate parts of the planet. Then there is Messanie Wilkins. She was acting on orders from the Lord! In 1954, at the age of 63, Wilkins had plenty to worry about. A destitute spinster in ill health, Wilkins had been told she had less than two years left to live, provided she spent them quietly. With no family ties, no money, and no future in her native Maine, Wilkins decided to take a daring step. Using the money she had made from selling homemade pickles, Wilkins bought a tired summer camp horse and made preparations to ride from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific Ocean. Yet before leaving she flipped a coin, asking God to direct her to go or not. When the coin came up heads several times in a row, one of America's most unlikely equestrian heroines set off. What followed was one of the twentieth century's most remarkable equestrian journeys. Accompanied by her faithful horse, Tarzan, Wilkins suffered through a host of obstacles including blistering deserts and freezing snow storms, yet never lost faith that she would complete her 7,000 mile odyssey. "Last of the Saddle Tramps" is thus the warm and humorous story of a humble American heroine bound for adventure and the Pacific Ocean. The classic tale is amply illustrated with photographs.

Fatal North: Murder and Survival on the First North Pole Expedition


Bruce Henderson - 2001
    Grant's bid for international glory after the Civil War—America's first attempt to reach the North Pole. It ended with Captain Charles Hall's death under suspicious circumstances, dissension among sailors, scientists, and explorers, the ship's evacuation and eventual sinking. Then came a brutal struggle for survival by thirty-three men, women and children, stranded on the polar ice—and two dramatic rescues by whaling ships. When news of the disastrous expedition and accusations of murder reached Washington D.C., it led to a nationwide scandal, an official investigation, and a government cover-up.The mystery of the captain's death remained unsolved for nearly 100 years. But when Charles Hall's frozen grave in northern Greenland was opened, and hair and fingernail samples were retrieved, forensic scientists were finally able to reach a shocking conclusion.Now, telling the complete story for the first time, acclaimed researcher and bestselling writer Bruce Henderson—whose works have been praised as "compelling" (LOS ANGELES TIMES Book Review) and "compulsively readable" (SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER)—has researched original transcripts of the U.S. Navy inquests, personal papers of Captain Hall, autopsy and forensic reports relating to the century-old crime, the ship's original log, personal journals kept by crewmen, and hero-survivor George Tyson's diary and family papers to bring to life one of the most mysterious tragedies of American exploration.

Belly of the Beast: POW's Inspiring True Story Faith Courage Survival Aboard Infamous WWII Japanese


Judith L. Pearson - 2001
    More than 1,100 of them would be dead by journey’s end... The son of a Kentucky sharecropper and an enlistee in the Navy’s medical corps, Myers arrived in Manilla shortly before the bombings of Pearl Harbor and the other six targets of the Imperial Japanese military. While he and his fellow corpsmen tended to the bloody tide of soldiers pouring into their once peaceful Naval hospital, the Japanese overwhelmed the Pacific islands, capturing 78,000 POWs by April 1942. Myers was one of the first captured.After a brutal three-year encampment, Myers and his fellow POWs were forced onto an enemy hell ship bound for Japan. Suffocation, malnutrition, disease, dehydration, infestation, madness, and simple despair claimed the lives of nearly three quarters of those who boarded "the beast".Myers survived.A compelling account of a rarely recorded event in military history, this is more than Estel Myers’ true story—this is an homage to the unfailing courage of men at war, an inspiring chronicle of self-sacrifice and endurance, and a tribute to the power of faith, the strength of the soul, and the triumph of the human spirit. "An inspiring look at one of World War II's darkest hours." —James Bradley, Author of Flags of our Fathers and Flyboys "A searing chronicle." —Kirkus Reviews"The Belly of the Beast (is)...a searing tribute...(to) America in its bleakest hour." —Senator John McCain, author New York Times bestseller Faith of My Fathers

The Oasis: A Memoir of Love and Survival in a Concentration Camp


Petru Popescu - 2001
    Shares the romance that unfolded between Czechoslovakian freedom fighter Mirek Friedman and his wife, Blanka Davidovich, in German concentration camp Dachau 3b, and how their love survived despite threats of death.

Defiant Courage: Norway's Longest WWII Escape


Astrid Karlsen Scott - 2001
    Before they can unload their cutter, they are betrayed, as a German Schnell boat arrives and turns the quiet fjord into a battle zone. Only one man, Jan Baalsrud, surrvives the attack. This is the story of his perilous journey to freedom. Wounded, the dauntless soldier swims icy fjord waters, climbs snow-laden granite peaks, endures violent snowstorms and is hurled off a mountain by an avalanche. Fleeing the Gestapo and battling the harsh Arctic cold, Jan suffers snowblindness and frostbite. Though he possesses raw courage and an iron will, they are not enough to deliver him all the way to neutral Sweden and safety. The people of northern Norway's Troms district step forward to assist Jan. Selflessly defying Nazi dictates, more than sixty people risk their lives to help the fugitive commando. Flee

Camp Cookery


Horace Kephart - 2001
    Illustrated with pen drawings of camp utensils, outfits, etc. and written by an expert outdoorsman in narrative form, this specialty cookbook contains a wealth of advice and comment in addition to recipes.

The Field and Forest Handy Book: New Ideas for Out of Doors


Daniel Carter Beard - 2001
    Beard, whose great passion was making boys and girls feel at home in the great outdoors. Then, as now, the reward is to experience nature's wonders while fostering self-sufficiency and independence. That is what The Field and Forest Handy Book provides.There are chapters on packing a horse, on sewing clothes and moccasins, on camp cooking, on building piers and boats, making sleds and kites and birdhouses, crafting snow houses, and much more. Everything imaginable for all ages to have some serious fun.Daniel Carter Beard was a founder of the scouting movement in America and wanted kids to enjoy the out-of-doors as much as he did. In his books, Beard helped preserve invaluable folkways that can instill self-reliance and a deeper appreciation of nature--all while having a world of fun. This is truly a book for all ages--including adults.

Memoir of a Gulag Actress


Tamara Petkevich - 2001
    Tamara Petkevich had a relatively privileged childhood in the beautiful, impoverished Petrograd of the Soviet regime’s early years, but when her father—a fervent believer in the Communist ideal—was arrested, 17-year- old Tamara was branded a “daughter of the enemy of the people.” She kept up a search for her father while struggling to support her mother and two sisters, finish school, and enter university. Shortly before the Russian outbreak of World War II, Petkevich was forced to quit school and, against her better judgment, she married an exiled man whom she had met in the lines at the information bureau of the NKVD (People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs). Her mother and one sister perished in the Nazi siege of Leningrad, and Petkevich was herself arrested. With cinematic detail, Petkevich relates her attempts to defend herself against absurd charges of having a connection to the Leningrad terrorist center, counter-revolutionary propaganda, and anti-Semitism that resulted in a sentence of seven years’ hard labor in the Gulag.While Petkevich became a professional actress in her own right years after her release from the Gulag, she learned her craft on the stages of the camps scattered across the northern Komi Republic. The existence of prisoner theaters and troupes of political prisoners such as the one Petkevich joined is a little-known fact of Gulag life. Petkevich’s depiction not only provides a unique firsthand account of this world-within-a-world but also testifies to the power of art to literally save lives. As Petkevich moves from one form of hardship to another she retains her desire to live and her ability to love.More than a firsthand record of atrocities committed in Stalinist Russia, Memoir of a Gulag Actress is an invaluable source of information on the daily life and culture of the Soviet Union at the time. Russian literature about the Gulag remains vastly under-represented in the United States, and Petkevich’s unforgettable memoir will go a long way toward filling this gap. Supplemented with photographs from the author’s personal archive, Petkevich’s story will be of great interest to general readers, while providing an important resource for historians, political scientists, and students of Russian culture and history.

The Kid Who Climbed Everest: The Incredible Story of a 23-Year-Old's Summit of Mt. Everest


Bear Grylls - 2001
    He had a lot to look forward to-a long career ahead of him in the army, a beautiful girlfriend back home. But those dreams were cut short when his parachute failed to open at eleven thousand feet. He had cracked three vertebrae and come within a fraction of severing his spinal cord. A grueling eight months of physical therapy followed. Bear had to retrain his muscles to do all of the things we take for granted-how to sit, stand, walk, even breathe. Eighteen months after his accident he overcame incredible odds to reach the peak of Everest. THE KID WHO CLIMBED EVEREST is a tale of courage and determination. Bear's quest for funding for his expedition, his seventy days on Everest's southeast face, and a narrow brush with death after a fall into a crevasse at nineteen thousand feet, make the story an essential read for anyone who's ever had a dream and made it come true.

Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: A True Story of Tragedy and Triumph


Gary M. Pomerantz - 2001
    From the moment a propeller blade shears off in mid-flight, destroying one of the plane's engines, the passengers and three crew members have 9 minutes and 20 seconds in which to prepare for their ordeal. You will be amazed by the way Pomerantz captured the human drama of those fateful moments, and by the remarkable personal journeys in the days and months that follow for those who walked away.

America's Heroes


Sports Publishing - 2001
    Our hearts fill with pride when we hear of the passengers; struggle for control of United Airlines flight 93. They lost their lives when the plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania, but they saved countless others targeted for attack in our nation's capital. These stories of heroism are endless. Firefighters, police officers, building workers, medical personnel, civilian volunteers, and many more risked their lives in hopes of saving just one more life. These heroes worked to exhaustion, and in some cases gave the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. The stories and images of these incredible events are honored in this new book, "America's Heroes". With approximately 75-100 color photographs and inspiring text of the courage which has risen above the tragedy, this book will serve as a reminder to everyone of all that's good about the spirit of America.Sprts Publishing LLC is making a $50,000 donation from this book's sales to the United Way, which will funnel the money to several funds connected with the tragedies.

The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition


Susan Solomon - 2001
    In this riveting book, Susan Solomon finishes the interrupted tale of Scott and his British expedition, depicting the staggering 900-mile trek to the South Pole and resolving the debate over the journey’s failure. “An absorbing, fascinating read . . . a book that will appeal to the explorer in everyone.”—Sally Ride“Solomon argues her case well, in exact and graceful prose.”—Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World“Persuasive. . . . [Solomon] reaches important new conclusions about Scott’s expedition.”—Sara Wheeler, New York Times Book Review“Brilliant. . . . A marvelous and complex book: at once a detective story, a brilliant vindication of a maligned man, and an elegy both for Scott and his men and for the ‘crystalline continent’ on which they died.”—Robert MacFarlane, Guardian“Solomon has crafted a smart, terrific book and an important addition to polar history.”—Roberta MacInnis, Houston Chronicle

Holocaust Memoirs: Life on the Run in Nazi Berlin


Bert Lewyn - 2001
    Bert Lewyn was a teenager, only 18 years old. Like thousands of other Jewish families, Bert, his mother and father were all arrested and taken away. His parents were deported to a concentration camp and Bert was conscripted as a slave laborer, forced to work in a weapons factory building machine guns for the German Wehrmacht. This is a story of Bert's escape and subsequent struggle to survive on his own, living underground in Nazi Berlin.

The Night Sky: A Glow-in-the-Dark Guide to Prominent Stars & Constellations North of the Equator


James Kavanagh - 2001
    Simply shine a light on the guide to illuminate the constellations and their names on the summer or winter star charts. Also includes descriptions of the meaning of each constellation and instructions on how to use your fingers to 'walk' between constellations to find prominent stars. Laminated for durability, this clever guide is an excellent source of portable information and ideal for field use by novices and experts alike. Over 250,000 sold.Made in the USA.

All Brave Sailors: The Sinking of the Anglo-Saxon, August 21, 1940


J. Revell Carr - 2001
    Describes the August 1940 attack on, and sinking of, the Anglo Saxon, a British merchant ship, by the Widder, a German surface raider disguised as a merchant ship from a neutral country, and the ordeal of the survivors of the doomed ship.

Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon


Michael P. Ghiglieri - 2001
    Two veterans of decades of adventuring in Grand Canyon chronicle the first complete and comprehensive history of Canyon misadventures. These episodes span the entire era of visitation from the time of the first river exploration by John Wesley Powell and his crew of 1869 to that of tourists falling off its rims in Y2K. These accounts of the 550 people who have met untimely deaths in the Canyon set a new high water mark for offering the most astounding array of adventures, misadventures, and life saving lessons published between any two covers. Over the Edge promises to be the most intense yet informative book on Grand Canyon ever written.

The Greatest Survival Stories Ever Told: Seventeen Incredible Tales


Lamar Underwood - 2001
    From the tropics to the Artic Poles (and everywhere in between), seventeen epic tales of survival.