Wrecked
The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy
by Thomas M Nelson; Jerald Podair
You must sign in to see if this title is available for request. Sign In or Register Now
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 1 Aug 2025 | Archive Date 30 Jun 2025
Talking about this book? Use #Wrecked #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
Wrecked links the story of America’s most infamous shipwreck to the story of an even larger disaster—the wreck of the American industrial economy. When the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, more was lost than the ship and the twenty-nine lives on board. The disaster was a human tragedy as well as an indictment of the American industrial policies that eventually cost the nation thousands of jobs and marooned hundreds of communities. Written with a passionate yet factually grounded intensity, Wrecked shows that the reasons for the decline of industrial manufacturing in the upper Midwest are linked to why the Edmund Fitzgerald sank, and to the legal turmoil that followed for the victims’ families. The book conveys the sense of loss that still is felt by those affected, along with the outrage over the disappearance of manufacturing jobs and the inadequate maintenance and legal maneuvering over liability for the sinking of the ship. What follows is a fascinating critique of what went wrong and why.
Advance Praise
“This is the most thorough and complete work covering the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. If you want to know everything about this tragedy, then you need to read this book.”—Toby Marcovich, attorney for the families of Michael Armagost, Ransom Cundy, and Freddie Beecher, crew members lost with the Edmund Fitzgerald
“Thomas Nelson has excavated the wreckage of one of America’s greatest tragedies to help us understand where our politics have gone wrong. As this book powerfully shows us, workers across the United States have been let down in the last few decades, just as the workers on the Edmund Fitzgerald and their families were let down in 1975. Nelson urges us to learn from this tragedy and offers a compelling path to restore a true workers’ democracy in the United States. This book couldn’t be more timely.” —Jon Shelton, professor and chair of Democracy and Justice Studies, University of Wisconsin–Green Bay
“Lovers of Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ will read Wrecked to find out what actually happened to both the ship and its individual crew members. Thomas Nelson and Jerald Podair succeed in intertwining this tale with a bigger and equally heart-wrenching story: the disappearance of American manufacturing, the rusting and decline of unions, the disintegration of infrastructure and safety standards, and the abandonment of American workers.” —Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO, New America
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781611865417 |
PRICE | US$29.95 (USD) |
PAGES | 222 |
Available on NetGalley
NetGalley Reader (PDF)
NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Send to Kindle (PDF)
Download (PDF)