****From the author of* Mayflower, Valiant Ambition* , **and *In the Hurricane’s Eye* **t** he riveting bestseller tells the story of the true events that inspired Melville’s *Moby-Dick*. ** Winner of the National Book Award, Nathaniel Philbrick’s book is a fantastic saga of survival and adventure, steeped in the lore of whaling, with deep resonance in American literature and history. In 1820, the whaleship *Essex* was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale, leaving the desperate crew to drift for more than ninety days in three tiny boats. Nathaniel Philbrick uses little-known documents and vivid details about the Nantucket whaling tradition to reveal the chilling facts of this infamous maritime disaster. *In the Heart of the Sea* , recently adapted into a major feature film starring Chris Hemsworth, is a book for the ages.