After World War II, the United States was the world’s largest shipbuilders. These same shipbuilding companies soon fell victim to overseas competition with cheaper labor, less environmental restrictions, and a US government that no longer subsidized the industry like other countries continued to do. Market share fell and, in a never-ending quest to maintain profit margins, American companies began using shortcuts to remain competitive. Cutting corners caused the quality to plummet, and soon American shipbuilders began shutting doors.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was built in the late 50s and Nelson argues that Great Lakes Engineering Works designed the ship with major flaws, a design that didn’t take into effect the weakening of its structure in an effort to stretch its length to record proportions. Couple this with a severe lack of maintenance over its life, overlooked safety issues, and pushing the ship past its cargo capacity limit and running her longer into the year when Lake Superior storms were their strongest. Its a wonder more ships didn’t go to the bottom.

Nelson does a nice job bringing the economy angle into Wrecked to give it a different look than a simple retelling of the ship’s sinking. There were some interesting facts that I either didn’t know or realized had any bearing on the tragedy of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I do find it ironic that with all the sonar technology out there, more explorers haven’t used it to help determine the exact cause of the wreck. Maybe there’s more to the coverup conspiracy than meets the eye.

3.5 Tons of Taconite out of 5

I started this book because I really love learning about maritime disasters! However, I don't think I was prepared for how heavy of a read this was. If you're really into learning about US history, namely economic and industrial history, you'll love this book. I, however, am more into social history and learning about the events themselves, so this book did take me a bit longer to get through than I'd hoped.
The author did an incredible job researching and interviewing individuals who were directly involved with the Edmund Fitzgerald, including family members who lost their loved ones to the sinking. I think the interviews were my favourite part. It really put into perspective both how recent it was and the impact the sinking had on individuals. Learning about the legal battles of the families and how poorly they were treated after just having suffered a tragedy, as well as the small semblance of closure the families received years later with the retrieval of the ship's bell, was both incredibly interesting and added a personal aspect, along with the author's research journey being woven in.
I also really enjoyed the parts that included Ojibwe history, especially as the original caretakers of Lake Superior. This is a vital piece that is often overlooked or ignored altogether.
Overall, I think this book was incredibly well-researched and is a great resource for those interested in this type of history. I would absolutely recommend it in a university-level classroom setting!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the DRC of #Wrecked. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

As a child of the midwest in the 70's I grew up hearing The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot on the radio. So the wreck has always intrigued me. Details of the wreck are sparse and there is plenty of speculation about what happened and why. This book tackles what was happening in the country (economically & politically) and in the industry (boat building & shipping) that might have led to some of the factors that caused the wreck. Nelson layers in the stories of the surviving families and the divers who have explored the wreck and raised the bell.

This is a thoroughly researched, well-written book, but it's an economic history lesson more than anything.

I was genuinely interested in learning more about the Edmund Fitzgerald since my Canadian husband has been talking about the Gordon Lightfoot song for as long as I've known him (over 30 years) -- and I was excited to learn more details of the song in this book! The most interesting parts of the book for me were the stories of families and friends who were deeply affected by the ship's sinking, and while I was expecting some commentary on the economic impact of the the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, I wasn't expecting so much of the book to be about economics, politics, labor unions, the steel industry, etc. For me, the economic lessons of the story would have been more impactful if the stories of those lost and those left behind were a much larger part of the book. 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for this e-copy of Wrecked by Thomas M Nelson and Jerald Podair in exchange for a honest review.This is the true story of the Edmund Fitzgerald ,the infamous ship that sunk in Lake Superior in Nov of 1975.The demise of the Fitz heralded the decline of the shipping industry in America amidst other economic woes in the US at the time..Unfortunately the survivors families struggled to survive financially in the aftermath of this disaster and were not fairly treated by the ship’s owners-Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance nor the charterers of the ship- Oglebay-Norton .Plain and simple the Fitz was not maintained properly and was an accident waiting to happen..This book was definitely an eye opener about a black mark on our nation’s history.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

I was super excited to start this one. I’m from Michigan and was expecting this to be a good “work book” to read on the reference desk since I work at an archives focused on the government policies in the years surrounding and including the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Man was I disappointed. This book is all over the place. The subtitle should be “The Family and Community Legacy,” since most of the book focuses on those topics instead of how the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald actually impacted the American economy. The book spans too many years and disparate political topics. Not enough time was spent on the economic thesis of the book to actually learn anything about the impact the sinking had on America during the ‘70s-‘80s.

The most interesting parts were about the night of the accident and the trips taken to to photograph/explore the ship.

Overall, disappointing with some glimmers of interesting tidbits.

What this book seeks to accomplish is to place the Edmund Fitzgerald in a bigger, more significant historical context than other works have done. from Wrecked by Thomas M. Nelson

We were at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum on the shores of Lake Superior shortly after the bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald was installed. My husband and I knew well Gordon Lightfoot’s song about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, one of the largest freighters on the Great Lakes, but we were there became our son’s third grade teacher had ignited his interest in Great Lakes shipwrecks. He had read dozens of books, including many about the Ftiz.

Since its sinking on November 20, 1976, people have searched for the cause of the disaster. This book considers a cause beyond storm and wave or human error by those in charge. It considers the broader picture–how neoliberal economics and business’s concern for profit over safety left the Fitz in ill repair, and left the American economy floundering.

I have read several books that trace the fallout of neoliberal economics, and how the loss of union jobs and manufacturing gutted the middle class. This one is specific in its concern while considering the disaster’s place in the greater picture of changing economics since WWII.

Nelson recalls when “not everyone was out for themself, ” when the concern was for “more than profits and stock dividends; there was community and a way of life that fostered an inclusive society where the American dream was within reach for the average American family.” He builds a narrative to explain step by step how economic policy from both sides of the aisle resulted in the death of a strong middle class. And, also harmed shipbuilding in America.

The Fitzgerald was not seaworthy and had been neglected for years. from Wrecked

But there is real heart in the book as well. Nelson interviewed the family members of the twenty-nine crew lost on the wreck. Bodies were discovered on the wreck, and the families fiercely protect it as the final resting place of their loved ones. There was contention over allowing the ship’s bell to be retrieved for the museum.

The book also considers the environmental damage to Lake Superior, including climate change, invasive species, and PCBs, a ‘forever chemical’ that has contaminated water across Michigan and even has been found in the dust in Detroit’s streets. Trump recently rolled back regulations.

“The men of the FItzgerald were heroes,” Nelson ends. They were why America had the steel needed to build the machines that drove industry and farming in America. “We must recognize what shipbuilding means: national and economic security.” He contends that with the political will we can support a reemergence of shipbuilding in America.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

Wrecked, by Thomas Nelson, is an excellent book that not only looks at the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald but at the aftermath (for both families and shipping more broadly) as well as the accumulation of things that led to the sinking. In other words, the tragedy is placed within both personal and societal contexts.

It would be so much simpler, especially for those who are afraid of looking at the big picture, to say it was just a bad storm and a bit of bad luck. But those were just the two most obvious factors. Fitz, as well as many of the other ships, weren't always kept up to date on equipment or repairs. Yet they were pushed to, and beyond, their limits. The luck, really, was that these things didn't happen more often. And it was all to maximize income mostly for owners and to a smaller extent captains. And by owners I mean large corporations and then private equity firms.

While I enjoyed the retelling of the sinking itself and the look at how this event was indicative of how the country, especially manufacturing, was being hung out to dry by finance and both political parties, the chapter that most touched me was the one about raising the bell from the wreck. The only time the powers that be came through for the families.

The ideas at the end about bringing shipbuilding jobs back to this country, military and civilian alike, make sense in the abstract but I'm not sure about how feasible it is without getting more details. I'm not discounting it, I just would like to see an actual breakdown of costs, both to kickstart the construction as well as the sustainability of the industry and whether the other industries that would be served are in a position to make it all worthwhile. I would love for this to be doable, I just want more details.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

Wrecked was a great and informative read about a well known event. I really loved the way the author not only examined the sinking but also the way it was connected to a much larger world. I think the most powerful part of this was seeing the way the sinking impacted the families. I would definitely use this as a way to have students examine how things are intertwined.

I received a free copy of, Wrecked, by Thomas M Nelson: Jerald Podair, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The Edmund Fitzgerald is a boat that sank and killed all aboard in a storm in the midwest in 1975. This book started off good, then west political real fast, I could not finish the book.

Living on Lake Superior, I enjoy reading about the Edmund Fitzgerald. It is part of the heritage of this area. The story is well told and I enjoyed every word.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, asking for my honest review. This review is mine and opinion is my own.

I love any book that has to do with Michigan, so this was a enlightening and great read for me! It was very informative about a piece of history that ironically isn't taught in the Michigan curriculum.

A fascinating book about a fascinating subject. There probably will never be an end to the books written about the Edmund Fitzgerald, but this one is a welcome addition.