12 Adult Narrative Nonfiction

The Wager by David Grann

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Published: 2023
Series: N/A
Author: David Grann
Illustrator: N/A
Genres: Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Book Club, Historical, Adventure, True Crime, Mystery, Survival, Crime, Nonfiction Narrative
Audience (Grade Levels): 12; Adults
Number of Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Goodreads Link: The Wager
Triggers / Content Warnings: Death, violence, starvation, and extreme survival scenarios.
Review By: Evan Waugh

Publisher’s Summary:

Goodreads Choice Award: Winner for Readers’ Favorite History & Biography (2023)
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

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.

Review:

I became a fan of David Grann when I read his much-celebrated National Book Award finalist, Killers of the Flower Moon, which has been adapted into a film by Martin Scorcese that will be released this fall. The book captured me with the way that it weaved a complex historical retelling into a simple, fast-paced narrative that had me hooked from beginning to end; in all, it only took a few days for me to finish the book.

Grann’s newest book, The Wager, succeeds in most of the same places that its predecessor does, creating a rich and vibrant narrative from a complex history that is much larger in scope than that found in Flower Moon. While The Wager starts off a bit dense, with descriptions of British naval life, as well as introductions of key figures, the pace of the book eventually evens out as Grann spins a tale of deception and mutiny on the seas, while also providing an important critique of British colonialism in the 18th century. I was completely immersed in the life of British sailors, as well as engrossed by Grann’s depictions of battles at sea, while asking myself the question that is at the center of the book: What really took place on the ship, The Wager?

I can already see The Wager being adapted into a film, as it has all of the major hallmarks of a compelling story. After reading The Wager, I am curious to see what historical period or events Grann tackles next.

Classroom & Curricular Connections:

  • ELA (English Language Arts): A phenomenal mentor text for AP Language or upper-level English courses to analyze narrative nonfiction structures, study how authors evaluate conflicting primary source testimonies, and track themes of perspective and unreliable narration.
  • Social Studies & World History: Integrates seamlessly into secondary European and World History modules exploring 18th-century imperial warfare, the geopolitics of the Anglo-Spanish conflict, the legal frameworks of the British Admiralty, and a systemic critique of British colonialism.
  • SEL (Social-Emotional Learning): Provides mature pathways for examining leadership psychology under crisis, the rapid deterioration of social contracts during isolation, the destructive nature of factionalism, and the ethics of survival.
  • Extension Activity / Library Application: Perfect for use as a high school library choiceboard selection or cross-curricular social studies extension. Librarians can host a “Court Martial Media Literacy Audit.” Drawing inspiration from the conflicting accounts of the Wager‘s crew, students can step into the roles of Admiralty judges, analyze historical timelines, and create a digital interactive map detailing the physical and psychological fracturing of the ship’s factions.
  • Diversity & Representation: The book models elite standards of inclusion and historical equity by actively deconstructing the Eurocentric myths of imperial exceptionalism. Rather than framing the British navy through a purely heroic lens, Grann investigates the intersectional vulnerabilities of the crew, addresses the devastating human cost of empire, and critiques how colonial powers manipulate historical narratives to preserve their institutional image, providing an essential literary mirror for secondary students analyzing systemic power dynamics.

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