false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174292636m/377111.jpg 377111 4 <div><i>The Wreck of the Medusa</i> is a spellbinding account of the most famous shipwreck before the Titanic, a tragedy that riled a nation and inspired Théodore Géricault&#8217;s magnificent painting <i>The Raft of the Medusa</i>. In June 1816, the flagship of a French expedition to repossess a colony in Senegal from the British set sail. She never arrived at her destination; her incompetent captain Hugo de Chaumareys, ignoring telltale signs of shallow waters, plowed the ship into a famously treacherous sandbar. A privileged few claimed the lifeboats while 146 men and one woman were herded aboard a makeshift raft and set adrift. Without a compass or many provisions, hit by a vicious storm the first night, and exposed to sweltering heat during the following days, the group set upon each other: mayhem, mutiny, and murder ensued. When rescue arrived thirteen days later only fifteen were alive. Meanwhile, those in the boats who made it to shore undertook a dangerous two-hundred-mile slog through the desert. Among the handful of survivors from the raft were two men whose written account of the fiasco became a bestseller that rocked France&#8217;s political foundations and provided graphic fodder for Géricault&#8217;s world-famous painting.</div> 366952 book 10 10 2007 The Wreck of the Medusa: The Most Famous Sea Disaster of the Nineteenth Century total:49|5:4|4:14|3:26|2:5|1:0| 49 164 111 15 3 1 false false Thu May 14 08:34:22 -0700 2009 Thu May 14 08:41:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 30 09:43:22 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 30 09:43:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Sep 11 09:24:17 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 09:29:28 -0700 2008 African hea...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 09:04:49 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 09:08:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Mar 18 09:12:51 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 18 09:14:54 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Mar 31 16:11:12 -0700 2008 Thu May 08 15:33:19 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Jul 01 06:11:56 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 01 06:14:23 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Mar 21 17:57:44 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 25 10:57:44 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 25 10:57:44 -0800 2008 2 0 false false Sun Sep 28 16:51:56 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 19 18:27:35 -0700 2008
Part sea story (pretty good here)

Part French history (long and confusing ((to me)) here)

Part art history (never really engages the reader)]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 23 02:51:34 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 23 02:52:43 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 26 13:30:26 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 19 05:58:45 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jul 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 22:26:04 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 11:07:30 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Apr 24 13:29:59 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 09 06:28:20 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 13:29:59 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Jun 07 18:19:52 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 18:21:52 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sun Dec 14 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 25 19:42:12 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 25 19:46:38 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 24 16:52:16 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 16:52:16 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 12 17:05:11 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 17:05:11 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Thu Nov 12 05:28:41 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 16:16:38 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 16:16:38 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 08 10:17:04 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 10:17:04 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Oct 08 08:33:03 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 08:33:03 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=377111