AFTER THE STORM; True Stories of Disaster and Recovery At Sea

An exploration of loss and survival by one of America's finest nautical writers

After the Storm is John Rousmaniere's most ambitious work ever, the unique expression of a master storyteller and authority on seamanship who has survived storms at sea. Each of the book's stories of seafaring disaster­­many little known, all exciting and of deep human interest­­presents a broad human drama. Rousmaniere tells of the hopes and choices that put these sailors in harm's way. He takes readers into the gales themselves with authoritative knowledge of horrific weather and the split-second decisions that seamen must make. Finally, he explores the consequences of these disasters for survivors, rescuers, families, communities, and in some cases nations. The pursuit of these elusive strands leads the reader deep into our ambivalent relationship with the sea as both "destroyer and preserver."

John Rousmaniere brings together his (and our) deepest concerns about the sea, disaster, faith, and recovery as only a writer with broad knowledge of seamanship, history, and human nature could do.Besides having put more than 35,000 miles of blue-water sailing behind him (including many storms), Rousmaniere has earned graduate degrees in history and divinity and has written nineteen books (including Fastnet, Force 10 and The Annapolis Book of Seamanship) and hundreds of articles about the sea, beliefs, and the past. He and his wife, mystery writer Leah Ruth Robinson, divide their time between New York and Stamford, Connecticut.