The Wager
A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
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Narrated by:
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Dion Graham
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David Grann
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By:
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David Grann
About this listen
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a thrilling story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court-martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.
A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, TIME, Smithsonian, NPR, Vulture, Kirkus Reviews
“Riveting...Reads like a thriller, tackling a multilayered history—and imperialism—with gusto.”—Time
"A tour de force of narrative nonfiction.”—The Wall Street Journal
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.
But then...six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes—they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang.
The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court-martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the listener spellbound.
©2023 David Grann (P)2023 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Mic Check with Dion Graham
Critic reviews
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TIME, NPR, Esquire, BookPage
“The most gripping sea-yarn I’ve read in years….A tour de force of narrative nonfiction. Mr. Grann’s account show how storytelling, whether to judges or readers, can shape individual and national fortunes–as well as our collective memories.”—Wall Street Journal
“Glorious, steely…a tightly written, relentless, blow-by-blow account that is hard to put down”—The Washington Post
“As much a rousing adventure as an exploration of the power of narratives to shape our perception of reality.”—The New York Times
Editorial Review
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- By: Malcolm X, Alex Haley
- Narrated by: Laurence Fishburne
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
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it's Nearly perfect
- By Kerry on 09-16-20
By: Malcolm X, and others
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Mythology: Mega Collection
- Classic Stories from the Greek, Celtic, Norse, Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, Mesopotamian and Egyptian Mythology
- By: Scott Lewis
- Narrated by: Madison Niederhauser, Oliver Hunt
- Length: 31 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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An interesting set of introductions.
- By Kevin Potter on 05-30-19
By: Scott Lewis
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Helter Skelter
- The True Story of the Manson Murders
- By: Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 26 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the 20th century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? Now available for the first time in unabridged audio, the gripping story of this famous and haunting crime is brought to life by acclaimed narrator Scott Brick.
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Everything I remembered about the case was wrong..
- By karen on 06-22-12
By: Vincent Bugliosi, and others
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Fingerprints of the Gods
- The Quest Continues
- By: Graham Hancock
- Narrated by: Graham Hancock
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Fingerprints of the Gods is the revolutionary rewrite of history that has persuaded millions of listeners throughout the world to change their preconceptions about the history behind modern society. An intellectual detective story, this unique history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain.
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Classic in Historical Mysteries
- By Kelly on 09-05-19
By: Graham Hancock
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The Secret History of Christmas
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
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Christmas is the single biggest annual event on the planet, a time for merry-making, over-indulgence, peace, goodwill, and the occasional family row. It’s as comfortable and familiar as a pair of old shoes and yet still glittery and exciting. But what do you really know about it? It’s stuffed full of traditions and rituals that most of us have been observing all our lives without having the slightest idea of where they come from.
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Fascinating and Entertaining
- By Laura Carrington on 11-23-22
By: Bill Bryson
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World War 2 in the Pacific Collection: Across Wake Island, Bataan, Guadalcanal, Corregidor, and Iwo Jima
- Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific, The Saga of Pappy Gunn, On Valor's Side, The Coastwatchers, They Call it Pacific, Joe Foss Flying Marine, South from Corregidor, The Story of Wake Island, & Mission Beyond Darkness
- By: Robert Lackie, General George C. Kenney, T. Grady Gallant, and others
- Narrated by: Museum Audiobooks Cast
- Length: 66 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a nine-book bundle on the Pacific War, the theatre of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and Oceania. The Pacific War saw the Allies pitted against Japan, aided by Thailand and its Axis allies, Germany and Italy. Fighting included some of the largest naval battles in history, and the war culminated in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Good collection, great bargain well worth a credit
- By R. Denton on 08-13-21
By: Robert Lackie, and others
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Black Elk Speaks
- Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, The Premier Edition
- By: John G. Neihardt
- Narrated by: Robin Neihardt
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Widely hailed as a spiritual classic, this inspirational and unfailingly powerful story reveals the life and visions of the Lakota healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863–1950) and the tragic history of his Sioux people during the epic closing decades of the Old West. In 1930, the aging Black Elk met a kindred spirit, the famed poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt (1881–1973) on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
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Tale of tears
- By William Sanders on 01-25-15
By: John G. Neihardt
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Detailed story of third voyage
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The best book I've had
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You don't know the whole story.
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Madhouse at the End of the Earth
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In August 1897, the young Belgian commandant Adrien de Gerlache set sail for a three-year expedition aboard the good ship Belgica with dreams of glory. His destination was the uncharted end of the earth: the icy continent of Antarctica. But de Gerlache’s plans to be first to the magnetic South Pole would swiftly go awry. After a series of costly setbacks, the commandant faced two bad options: turn back in defeat and spare his men the devastating Antarctic winter, or recklessly chase fame by sailing deeper into the freezing waters.
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Der Untergang der "Wager"
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Im Januar 1742 wird ein windschiefes Segelboot an die Küste Brasiliens gespült. An Bord 30 Männer, die einzigen Überlebenden des königlichen Eroberungsschiffs »The Wager«, das in einem Sturm zerschellt ist. Sechs Monate später landen drei Schiffbrüchige an der Küste Chiles und behaupten, die 30 Männer seien Meuterer, die sich den königlichen Befehlen widersetzt und skrupellos gemordet hätten... Wer lügt, wer sagt die Wahrheit? Das soll ein britisches Kriegsgericht entscheiden. Es geht um Leben oder Tod.
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Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds.
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A Rich Read!
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In the Heart of the Sea
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The ordeal of the whaleship Essex was an event as mythic in the nineteenth century as the sinking of the Titanic was in the twentieth. In 1819 the Essex left Nantucket for the South Pacific with 20 crew members aboard. In the middle of the South Pacific the ship was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. The crew drifted for more than 90 days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather, hunger, and disease and ultimately turning to drastic measures in the fight for survival.
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Audio must have been fixed
- By Amazon Customer on 02-11-18
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Empire of the Summer Moon
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Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son, Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.
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Difficult to endure narrator
- By fowler on 12-21-19
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The Spy and the Traitor
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If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6.
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John Lee is GREAT!
- By David on 09-21-18
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In the Kingdom of Ice
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In the late nineteenth century, people were obsessed by one of the last unmapped areas of the globe: The North Pole. No one knew what existed beyond the fortress of ice rimming the northern oceans. On July 8, 1879, the USS Jeannette set sail from San Francisco to cheering crowds in the grip of "Arctic Fever." The ship sailed into uncharted seas, but soon was trapped in pack ice. Two years into the harrowing voyage, the hull was breached. Amid the rush of water and the shrieks of breaking wooden boards, the crew abandoned the ship.
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Superb tale that unravels at an iceburg's pace
- By Mel on 03-19-15
By: Hampton Sides
What listeners say about The Wager
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Robin in Alaska
- 07-08-23
Breathless Machine Gun Style of Narration
I've listened to dozens of audiobooks, but NEVER have I listened to anyone keep up this staccato overly emotion filled reading for so long. David Gann has written a very good book, but this narrator overly emphasizes every single sentence as if it were a supreme disaster, thus making it nearly impossible to fully comprehend when (at the proper points in the story) an actual disaster genuinely takes place. OK, I understand that nobody likes a monotone reader, however this was on the total opposite end of the spectrum. Personally, I hated this style of narration and feel very strongly that this book could easily have been a top favorite of mine with a different narrator.
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17 people found this helpful
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- Victoria Ann
- 05-02-23
Great story; narration: not so much
The Wager is a compelling story of mutiny at sea and survival against all odds.
Unfortunately the narrator left me feeling…underwhelmed. The ship was English, so why wasn’t it read with an English accent? Also, why was every part of the story read with climatic intonation? It needed to come ‘down’ to give the more dire details some emphasis. The voice volume was a constant loud/soft roller coaster. Definitely off-putting.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Mary D.
- 05-04-23
Timeless tale
Never thought I would appreciate the detail of the sailing minutia, but I was captivated by it. The narrator was brilliant and the last chapter let’s us know that cover ups will always be a part of the historical narrative.
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1 person found this helpful
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- reader
- 06-16-23
good story exhausting narration
As a long time fan of Patrick O'Brien's books, particularly in audio form, I enjoyed the content, story and attention to detail in The Wager. Unfortunately I found the constant gratuitously breathless and overly dramatic narration exhausting. The griping story, if simply just read , could easily stand on its own merits retaining the interest of the listener without resorting to off-putting melodramatic artifice.
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1 person found this helpful
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- John K
- 05-02-23
Great Story
Well done, interesting chapter of the Jenkins Ear War and what the navy went through in that era. Narration could be better but was acceptable. Highly recommend
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- Marcus Aurelius
- 05-23-23
A masterpiece
Best book, I have read in the past decade. From start to finish, could not put it down. Great storyteller who pays attention to small details and weaves and yarns just about anyone to find fascinating.
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- Marty D. Matlock
- 05-28-23
history brought to life!
perhaps the best of historical novel genera, performed with dignity and fury.
read it
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- Howard
- 04-25-23
Interesting Story Damaged by Narration
I occasionally like a good adventure yarn which so i took a chance on this new book. I was irritated immediately by the narration which is overly dramatic. Every word in virtually every sentence is spit out by the narrator with great amplification. This is unnecessary for the background story and seriously detracts as my attention seems to be drawn to this hammy attempt to slay with violence every period, comma and hyphen in the text and add multiple exclamation points to even the most mundane fact recounted. I can't recommend this book although I did finish it.
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- Bob LaFollette
- 05-09-23
Breadth of Humanity exposed by the high seas
Fascinating story and the historical background make it so reliving to any student of history and the human condition. As is often the case, with complex events the drama is viewed from different facets depending on the motivations. Appreciate the writing and the yelling of the recent recounting of the Wager
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Rick Stutzel
- 05-16-23
Thrilling sea adventure!
Audible book.
Well done story. A look into the building of the British empire and the kinds of men who did the work.
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