This month’s book is The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann.

This non-fiction work is page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery. Drawing on firsthand accounts from logbooks, correspondence, diaries, court-martial testimony, and Admiralty and government records, Grann mounts a chilling, vibrant narrative of the wreck of The Wager that washed up on the coast of Brazil in January 1742. Grann's tale of intrigue culminates in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth—showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.