Items related to Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916
Synopsis
The summer of 1916 was brutally hot, driving thousands to the Jersey Shore to indulge in the newfangled activity of swimming in the ocean, and a good swimmer could strut his stuff in front of an appreciative audience. But happiness turned to horror as a killer invaded this idyllic scene-with never a warning and showing no mercy to its victims. Soon the beaches were filled with screams as this monster of the sea dragged unsuspecting vacationers down under the waves, chomping off limbs and leaving pools of blood and horrified onlookers in its wake. How many deaths would it take before the truth about this terrifying monster would be known? History and hubris. Drama and daring. Science and sizzle. It's all here in one package, brought to life by the extraordinary voice of Taylor Mali.
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About the Authors
Michael Capuzzo is the author of the New York Times bestseller Close to Shore and a former feature writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Miami Herald. His stories have appeared in Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Life. He has been nominated four times for the Pulitzer Prize and was a National Magazine Award finalist. He lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
Taylor Mali is the former president of Poetry Slam, Inc., and one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement. He is the author of two books of poetry, What Learning Leaves and The Last Time as We Are, and four CDs of spoken word. He has appeared on the first two seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam and won the jury prize for best one-man show at the United States Comedy Arts Festival. A passionate advocate of teachers, he travels the country recruiting the next generation of teachers with his 1,000 Teachers Campaign. Taylor lives in New York.
From the Back Cover
Five CDs, 6 hrs.
Read by Len Cariou
Four deaths. One maiming. One shark. . .
In mesmerizing detail, journalist Michael Capuzzo's CLOSE TO SHORE recounts the dramatic true story of a series of shark attacks that occurred along the New Jersey shore in July 1916 -- resulting in the largest shark hunt in history, and the end of Americans' naivete about the dangers of the sea. Anchored by harrowing and graphic recreations of a rogue Great White Shark's attacks on five swimmers in two beach towns --as well as in a farming community eleven miles inland -- the narrative examines the behavior of the ocean's greatest predator and the lives and worldview of pre-World War I Americans. The novelistic narrative evokes both the chilling specter of sharks and the rich historical backdrop of Gilded Age America, an era when Americans were just beginning to swim in the ocean, and the Jersey shore, thanks to the railroads, was coming into its own as a playground for America's new leisure class. Woven throughout is the theme of how these shark attacks metaphorically marked the end of an "innocent" ag
e in America when a ship was considered unsinkable and a shark, experts believed, hadn't the jaw strength to hurt a man.
Based on in-depth archival research into accounts of the attacks from 1916 newspapers and science journals and existing interviews with victims' relatives as well as research and reporting on the social and cultural currents of the era and on what we have learned about sharks in the intervening decades, CLOSE TO SHORE paints vivid portraits of individuals ranging from tourists, local citizens and shore developers to scientists, shark experts and hunters. Capuzzo interspersesthe spellbinding narrative with fascinating insights on shark behavior and on the evolving human-shark relationship, incorporating tales of shark attacks that occurred elsewhere and at other times to create a timeless account of our relationship with man's last natural predator.
Reviews
Taylor Mali's narration begins quietly, like a shark patrolling ocean currents. Mali describes the confident 1916 East Coasters who ride to beaches on the newly established railroad lines. At the same time, he tells of the growth of a rogue Great White shark. In a string of parallel narrations, Mali imagines the journey of the shark and describes the human misperceptions of the first attacks. When the shark attacks mount, so does Mali's reading strength, and it becomes almost frenzied as man's fury and fear increase. Quotes from sensational news reports and eyewitnesses are full of emotions that turn truth into narrative drama. Horrifying details of shark assaults will captivate young audio listeners who won't soon forget this "piscine serial killer" and its prey. S.W. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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