Twelve Days of Terror: A Definitive Investigation of the 1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks - Hardcover

Fernicola, Richard G.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 158574297X ISBN 13: 9781585742974

Publisher: Lyons Pr, 2001

Synopsis

Vividly told for the first time, the true-life story of the 1916 wave of shark attacks that inspired Jaws takes readers to the Jersey shore in the midst of World War I, where a shark, or school of sharks, was feeding on bathers.

About this title

About the Author

Richard G. Fernicola is recognized as the foremost authority on the New Jersey shark attacks of 1916. His research became the basis for the highly acclaimed television documentaries Legends of Killer Sharks and Shark Attack: 1916, which aired on the Discovery Channel and The History Channel. He is also actively involved in the historic preservation and rescue of marine mammals. He lives in New Jersey.

From the Back Cover

In July 1916, four people were killed in two weeks by a series of shark attacks, causing panic all along the coast. Perhaps best known as the inspiration for the Peter Benchley novel and Steve Spielberg film 'Jaws,' the story is set down here as the gripping record of what really happened.

Reviews

Beginning July 1, 1916, a spate of shark attacks off the Jersey shore befuddled maritime experts and terrified the public. In the first incident, an unsuspecting vacationer's thigh was bitten off; he eventually died. Over the next 12 days, three more people were killed and another seriously injured. These two books by New Jersey authors re-create differing theories as to who, and what, was responsible for the carnage, a subject that scientists still debate today. Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Capuzzo (nominated four times for a Pulitzer) unwaveringly adheres to the most popular theory (that a single, juvenile great white shark was responsible for all the carnage), but his book's strength lies in its lively reconstruction of the age and its consciousness, in which a new leisure class was emerging, with many of its members venturing into the ocean for the first time. (He also recounts the shark's movements and supposed feelings from an omniscient, third-person perspective to strained, unintentionally comical and inevitably misleading effect.) The encounters between people and sharks make for some tense and gruesome reading, and the rest of the book is equally page-turning: the zeal to find the "Jersey man-eater," the sensational "feeding frenzy" of the press and the befuddlement of a scientific community, which then devoutly believed that sharks did not bite humans. On that last front, Fernicola, a physician specializing in post-stroke and post-injury recovery, adds to his own investigation of this episode an exhaustive review of shark science today and theories of shark aggression toward humans, including possible environmental factors (heat, changes in human bathing habits, even bathing suit styles), speculations on the perpetrator's exact species, and well-reasoned arguments and conclusions. Fernicola is a recognized authority on the 1916 attacks (his work has provided the basis for Discovery Channel and History Channel documentaries on the subject), but he marshals so much data that his book fails to live up to its lurid title, giving its looming competitor the edge. (May; Capuzzo on-sale: May 8) Forecast: With bathing suit season just around the corner, these books are well timed. Fernicola's, which will be the subject of an upcoming spread in USA Today and is scheduled for coverage on Good Day New York, will provide grist to shark enthusiasts and fans of the Jaws films. Lyons Press has high hopes for its book and has committed to an unprecedented (for this house) 50,000 first printing. Capuzzo will tour six major cities on both coasts, along with stops on Cape Cod and, of course, the Jersey shore. His compulsive potboiler just may be the hot read on the beach this summer.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

of horrific shark attacks that sparked nationwide alarm in 1916. At the time, the United States was already on edge from mounting political tensions that would soon draw it into the Great War, and New York City was fighting a polio epidemic and a heat wave. The latter attracted throngs of tourists to the New Jersey shore, where ocean swimming was just becoming a popular pastime. A shark had never attacked a swimmer in America before that July, so there was widespread panic when four gruesome deaths and a brutal mauling were blamed on one or more sharks in fewer than two weeks. Both authors have thoroughly researched the events and vividly depict the historical and social pre-war climate. Their descriptions of the attacks are truly chilling without being sensational. Capuzzo, a Pultizer Prize-nominated journalist, derived most of his background information from extensive reading, including Richard Fernicola's In Search of the Jersey Man-Eater (1987). Fernicola, on the other hand, went way beyond the literature for Twelve Days of Terror and interviewed dozens of people, including the descendants of attack survivors. A doctor by training, he provides more scientific information about sharks' predatory nature and theorizes on possible causes for the uncharacteristic aggression. (Fernicola's shark research has already been the basis for two television documentaries.) Capuzzo's Close to Shore, however, is the more captivating of the two books, because he crafts more colorful characters, suspense, and excitement into his story. Both books are worthy additions to public and academic libraries. Will Hepfer, SUNY at Buffalo Libs.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lyons Pr
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 158574297X
• ISBN 13: 9781585742974
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 330