First, stop what you’re doing and listen again (you’ve probably heard it before) to this magnificent ballad by Gordon Lightfoot, “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” It’s beautiful and bittersweet and it tells the story of one of America’s most famous and haunting shipwrecks.
And: now that you’ve fallen in love with the song, now that you’re wondering about the details of this mysterious shipwreck: here is a brilliant new book that tells the tale. Here is the book the song was waiting for.
My friend, the great author John Bacon, has spent the last I don’t know how many years interviewing more than 100 family members, friends, and crewmates of those lost to the shipwreck, in an inspired quest to uncover the story of the “Storm of the Century.”
Right up front, the book lets you know the stakes: “On November 10, 1975, when the ‘storm of the century’ threw 100-mile-per-hour winds and 50-foot waves on Lake Superior, the Mighty Fitz found itself at the worst possible place, at the worst possible time. When she sank, she took all 29 men onboard down with her, leaving the tragedy shrouded in mystery for a half century.”
The bestselling author Hampton Sides has called the book “a work of spectral beauty, destined to be a classic.” The Wall Street Journal says that the tale of the Edmund Fitzgerald has “never …been told better than by Mr. Bacon in this colorful and compelling book.”
And the author Susan Cain, who is writing to you right now ;), is deep into the book, and loving it. The book is full of fascinating details about the Great Lakes (did you know that they’re often more treacherous than the oceans — that the absence of salt lets the waves form into mountains that crash down on you every four seconds?). But it’s also full of stories - of sailors and captains, of childhood sweethearts, and of Gordon Lightfoot himself, and the birth of his famous song.
I hope you enjoy it - and would love, as always, to hear your thoughts!
I first heard “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” in 1976, on my first night at college. It haunted me then and continues to do so to this day.
I’m so grateful you shared this book with us. I am a massive Gordon Lightfoot fan, although I didn’t get into his music until his very last years. He grew up in Orillia, Ontario, Canada, where we have a family cottage five generations strong. I will be purchasing this book. I was fortunate to see Mr. Lightfoot sing this live when I saw him perform in 2018. He is one of the best songwriters of all time and I am so grateful for the music he gave us.