University of Iowa Professor David O. Dowling is the author of a new book, Surviving the Essex: The Afterlife of America’s Most Storied Shipwreck (University Press of New England).
He will be reading from and signing copies of the book at Prairie Lights on Tuesday, May 10 at 7 p.m.
From the University Press of New England website:
"Do cannibals get second acts?
Surviving the “Essex” tells the captivating story of a ship’s crew battered by whale attack, broken by four months at sea, and forced—out of necessity—to make meals of their fellow survivors. Exploring the Rashomon-like Essex accounts that complicate and even contradict first mate Owen Chase’s narrative, David O. Dowling examines the vital role of viewpoint in shaping how an event is remembered and delves into the ordeal’s submerged history—the survivors’ lives, ambitions, and motives, their pivotal actions during the desperate moments of the wreck itself, and their will to reconcile those actions in the short- and long-term aftermath of this storied event. Mother of all whale tales, Surviving the “Essex” acts as a sequel to Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea, while probing deeper into the nature of trauma and survival accounts, an extreme form of notoriety, and the impact that the story had on Herman Melville and the writing of Moby-Dick."
Dowling is an associate professor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication, part of the UI College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Iowa is a comprehensive college offering 64 majors in the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. More than 16,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students study each year in the College’s 39 departments, led by professors at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all UI undergraduates through the General Education Program, and confers about 70 percent of the UI's bachelor's degrees each academic year.