Name: An Evening with David Grann and Scott Detrow: The Wager
Start: 2025-02-27T19:00:00-05:00
Location: Midtown Scholar Bookstore

An Evening with David Grann and Scott Detrow: The Wager

Midtown Scholar Bookstore

#1 NYT bestselling author David Grann (Killers of the Flower Moon) visits Harrisburg for the paperback launch of his new book, The Wager.

The Midtown Scholar Bookstore is honored to welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author David Grann (Killers of the Flower Moon) to Harrisburg for a conversation and signing on the paperback launch of his new book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder. Grann will be in conversation with NPR's Scott Detrow.This is a ticketed event. Every ticket includes a copy of the paperback book and up to two general admission seats (THIS OPTION IS NOW SOLD OUT). Every ticket inludes one standing-room-only ticket and one signed book. Doors will open at 6:00pm, and the event will begin at 7:00pm. Seating is general admission; first come, first served. Book signing to follow discussion.Important Note About the Book Signing: Attendees may bring up to two (2) books from outside the bookstore to get signed/personalized after the event. If you wish to bring any additional books into the signing line, they must be purchased from the bookstore. About the Book:On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes. But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang. The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.About the Speaker:David Grann is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON and THE LOST CITY OF Z. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON was a finalist for The National Book Award and won an Edgar Allan Poe Award. He is also the author of THE WHITE DARKNESS and the collection THE DEVIL AND SHERLOCK HOLMES. Grann’s storytelling has garnered several honors, including a George Polk Award. He lives with his wife and children in New York.Scott Detrow is the weekend host of All Things Considered, and a co-host of the Consider This podcast. In this role Detrow contributes to the weekday All Things Considered broadcasts, and regularly hosts NPR's live special coverage of major news stories. Detrow joined NPR in 2015, and spent the next eight years covering national politics. He covered the White House, Congress and two presidential campaigns, and co-hosted The NPR Politics Podcast.. Scott lived and worked in Harrisburg for many years, early on in his career. He covered state politics for WITF, and met his wife at the state Capitol.Prices include applicable PA sales tax and Harrisburg City amusement tax.

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An Evening with David Grann and Scott Detrow: The Wager

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