At Viking, my editor Wendy Wolf always made this book a top priority. Throughout a hectic summer of revisions, she ceaselessly challenged me to live up to the material's potential. A heart-felt thank you, Wendy. Kris Puopolo's comments on the first third of the manuscript were invaluable while Hal Fessenden provided late-inning input that significantly strengthened the book. Thanks also to Beena Kamlani for her meticulous and thoughtful work on the manuscript.
Special thanks to my agent Stuart Krichevsky, who has kept me on course through a most arduous and exciting year and a half.
Finally, my love, admiration, and gratitude to my wife Melissa (to whom this book is dedicated) and to our teenage children, Jennie and Ethan, who cheerfully submitted to listening to the first draft of each chapter, even when they had homework to do.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER TWELVE
In the Heart of the Sea: The Epic True Story That Inspired Moby-Dick Page 32
