The Gales of November by John U. Bacon

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"A work of spectral beauty destined to be a classic. Readers of Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm, Erik Larsen’s Dead Wake, and Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea will love this deeply reported tale." —Hampton Sides, New York Times best-selling author

"The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald has been told and retold... but never better than by Mr. Bacon in this colorful and compelling book. Dead men tell no tales, but their loved ones do." —John J. Miller, Wall Street Journal

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald’s sinking, award-winning journalist John U. Bacon delivers the definitive account of America’s most legendary maritime tragedy in The Gales of November.

For three decades after World War II, the Great Lakes stood as the industrial heart of the world economy—what Silicon Valley is today. No vessel symbolized that golden age more than the Edmund Fitzgerald: a 729-foot behemoth known as “The Mighty Fitz.”

But on November 10, 1975, the ship met the “storm of the century” on Lake Superior—battered by 100 mph winds and 50-foot waves. Within hours, the Fitzgerald sank without a single survivor, taking all 29 crew members with her and leaving behind one of the most haunting mysteries in maritime history.

Drawing from over 100 interviews with families, friends, and crewmates of those lost, Bacon paints an unforgettable portrait of courage, tragedy,