What to Read Next: a new history of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Issue #387 — October 31, 2025

Oct 31, 2025

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin

Happy Friday, readers, and Happy Halloween as well!

Today I have a review of a great new narrative history of a legendary shipwreck, as well as a list of a few other shipwreck-focused titles. I read The Gales of November a handful of months ago and it has really stuck with me — I’m glad to finally be able to share it with you.

The Gales of November by John Bacon

When you live along the shores of Lake Superior, there’s no escaping the memory of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Fifty years ago, on November 10, 1975, the elegant freighter slipped under the icy waves of the big lake, bringing 29 sailors with her.

Even decades later, the legend of the Fitzgerald lives on in the Great Lakes region. You can’t go into a single gift shop up here without seeing homages on t-shirts, hats, books, and replicas. It’s not a stretch to compare it to the Titanic in its symbolic meaning; though it was a freighter, the Fitzgerald was as luxurious as a working ship could be and it was quite an honor to have a place on its decks. It was the pride of the lakes and remains the biggest ship — nearly 730 feet long and 75 feet across — to have gone down in Lake Superior.

It’s a Shakespearean tragedy — and one that’s never fully been explained. Though there are a few good ideas about what happened, there’s no single conclusive factor that caused the Fitzgerald’s sinking. All we know is that a freak storm, which is paradoxically somewhat common in the region come November, mixed with some unknown element of human and/or navigational error. Hence the allure of the ship and its wreck.

In his new and fantastic book, John Bacon peels back the mystery and gives readers the story of not only the ship itself, but also the 29 men who lost their lives 50 years ago. While he doesn’t put forth a definitive answer — something we’ll never have — Bacon does present a couple compelling hypotheses. I also really appreciate that he spent some time talking about the lasting impact of the Fitzgerald’s sinking, particularly for the Great Lakes, even giving us a deep dive on Gordon Lightfoot’s melancholy hit song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

I loved The Gales of November. As someone who’s newly local to Lake Superior’s shores, it shined a light on the character and history of this area. But it also went much further than that, telling a moving story of hard work, passion, and compassion in the midst of a mysterious and watery disaster.

A few other true stories of shipwrecks:

The Wager by David Grann. The subtitle is plenty captivating on its own: “A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder.” Grann is always a must-read and this mid-18th century story of disaster and survival is among his best.
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. The movie version of this story is better known, but the slim book is just as good. Junger weaves a fantastic human narrative with just the right amount of history, thriller, and backstory.
Into the Raging Sea by Rachel Slade. The 2015 sinking of the El Faro in the midst of Hurricane Joaquin didn’t garner a whole lot of press, but it’s one of the more harrowing and unbelievable stories you’ll hear. It’s Perfect Storm-esque in that none of the 33 crew survived, but it’s about way more than just a boat sinking in a bad storm.
Sinkable by Daniel Stone. This Titanic story starts with the shipwreck rather than ending with it. Stone gets into the science of shipwrecks (and why reconstructing them so precisely is critically important), why it took so long to discover the Titanic’s final resting place, the ship’s enduring appeal as a maritime gravesite, and ultimately why the ship continues to captivate the world well over a hundred years later.
The Shipwreck Hunter by David Mearns. An exciting and compulsively readable memoir from one of the world’s great wreck hunters. It’s a perfect blend of maritime history, pop science, and Clive Cussler–style adventure.