Survivors : True Tales of Endurance by John Barry Letterman

This extraordinary collection offers an unsurpassed chronicle of human endurance, resourcefulness, courage, and luck – in the most perilous circumstances and against the greatest odds. From the depths of the oceans to the highest mountaintops, on every continent, and even in outer space, here are more than twenty riveting stories by explorers, mountaineers, sailors, pioneers, adventurers, and ordinary people who faced mortal peril…and lived to tell about it.

Fiction cannot rival these true accounts, all of which have been selected for the quality of their writing as well as for their inherent drama. Ranging from the time of the conquistadors to the present day, the pieces are almost all written by eyewitnesses and participants – including John McCain, who endured agonizing torture in a North Vietnamese POW prison; James Lovell, who commanded “Apollo 13” during its harrowing return from an aborted lunar mission; and Antoine de Saint-Exupery, who cheated death after crashing his plane in the Libyan desert.

Skillfully edited by John Letterman, whose introductions to each piece provide background and historical context, these memorable stories allow us to experience firsthand the determination and courage of men and women whose lives are on the line. We are transported to Antarctica, where blinding winds and horrific cold torment Ernest Shackleton’s men; to the scorching deserts of Arabia, where Wilfred Thesiger is engulfed by sandstorms and punishing heat; to the South Pacific, where the surviving crewmen of the Essex begin an epic 2,000-mile longboat voyage after their ship is rammed and sunk by a whale.
At times inspiring, at times horrifying, and always riveting,this book vividly chronicles the fortitude of a remarkable group of men and women who have written powerfully about the struggle to survive in the face of tremendous adversity.