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The Barnes & Noble Review
Nothing less than a true-life Jaws! In Close to Shore, author Michael Capuzzo provides a great read -- not just for summer, but all year round -- as well as a lively metaphor for all that was unknown and scary in the world of early-20th-century New Jersey. Close to Shore vividly tells the story of the first known attacks by a great white shark on frolicking swimmers off the Jersey Shore during the summer of 1916 -- the last year of peace before America's entry into the Great War.

These incidents are interwoven with the continually worsening news from abroad and the growing fears of German U-boats prowling off the U.S. coast. Close to Shore echoes the last glistening and innocent days of the Edwardian era as the vivid brutality of the 20th century reaches across the Atlantic.

Many things were "in the air" that hot and fateful summer: suffragettes in daring bathing suits that revealed knees and arms; disturbingly regular occurrences of infantile paralysis; swarms of recent immigrants seeking relief from the torrid city, to the dismay of the rural gentry; advances in science and medicine that would forever change the way people looked at the natural world.

But for weeks along the Jersey shoreline, summering Americans came face to face with fears of the unknown -- and, in the ocean, a man-eating shark was terrorizing the quiet beach resorts. Throughout that summer, Americans were given a view into the other side of the looking glass, as the 20th century itself loomed like a great white shark, fraught with perils that were imminent and uncontrollable. (Elena Simon)

Elena Simon lives in New York City.

ANNOTATION

Details the first documented cases in American history of sharks attacking swimmers, which occured along the Atlantic coast of New Jersey in 1916.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

During the summer before the United States entered World War I, when ocean swimming was just becoming popular and luxurious Jersey Shore resorts were thriving as a chic playland for an opulent yet still innocent era's new leisure class, Americans were abruptly introduced to the terror of sharks. In July 1916 a lone great white was pulled from the deep ocean by a current of the Gulf Stream and headed in the direction of the New Jersey shoreline. There, near the towns of Beach Haven and Spring Lake -- and, incredibly, a farming community eleven miles from the sea -- the most ferocious and unpredictable of predators began a deadly rampage: the first shark attacks on swimmers in U.S. history. For Americans celebrating an astoundingly prosperous epoch much like our own, fueled by the wizardry of revolutionary inventions, the arrival of this violent predator symbolized the limits of mankind's power over nature.

Interweaving a vivid portrait of the era and meticulously drawn characters with chilling accounts of the shark's five attacks and the frenzied hunt that ensued, Michael Capuzzo has created a nonfiction historical thriller with the texture of Ragtime and the tension of Jaws. From the unnerving inevitability of the first attack on the esteemed son of a prosperous Philadelphia physician to the spine-tingling moment when a farm boy swimming in Matawan Creek feels the sandpaper-like skin of the passing shark, Close to Shore is an undeniably gripping saga. Heightening the drama are stories of the resulting panic in the citizenry, press, and politicians, and of colorful personalities such as Hermann Oelrichs, a flamboyant millionaire who made a bet that a shark was no match for a man (and set out to prove it); Museum of Natural History ichthyologist John Treadwell Nichols, faced with the challenge of stopping a mythic sea creature about which little was known; and, most memorable, the rogue great white itself, moving through a world that couldn't conceive of either its destructive power or its moral right to destroy.

Masterfully written and suffused with fascinating period detail and insights into the science and behavior of sharks, Close to Shore recounts a breathtaking, pivotal moment in American history with startling immediacy.

SYNOPSIS

Combining rich historical detail and a harrowing, pulse-pounding narrative, Close to Shore brilliantly re-creates the summer of 1916, when a rogue Great White shark attacked swimmers along the New Jersey shore, triggering mass hysteria and launching the most extensive shark hunt in history.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Michael Capuzzo presents Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916, an adaptation of his 2001 book for adults, Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in the Age of Innocence. In chronicling the first documented shark attacks on swimmers, which occurred along the Jersey shore in 1916, the work also provides a look at early-20th-century life, with special attention paid to leisure pursuits. Photos, maps and period newspaper clippings illustrate the text. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Beginning July 1, 1916, a spate of shark attacks off the Jersey shore befuddled maritime experts and terrified the public. In the first incident, an unsuspecting vacationer's thigh was bitten off; he eventually died. Over the next 12 days, three more people were killed and another seriously injured. These two books by New Jersey authors re-create differing theories as to who, and what, was responsible for the carnage, a subject that scientists still debate today. Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Capuzzo (nominated four times for a Pulitzer) unwaveringly adheres to the most popular theory (that a single, juvenile great white shark was responsible for all the carnage), but his book's strength lies in its lively reconstruction of the age and its consciousness, in which a new leisure class was emerging, with many of its members venturing into the ocean for the first time. (He also recounts the shark's movements and supposed feelings from an omniscient, third-person perspective to strained, unintentionally comical and inevitably misleading effect.) The encounters between people and sharks make for some tense and gruesome reading, and the rest of the book is equally page-turning: the zeal to find the "Jersey man-eater," the sensational "feeding frenzy" of the press and the befuddlement of a scientific community, which then devoutly believed that sharks did not bite humans. On that last front, Fernicola, a physician specializing in post-stroke and post-injury recovery, adds to his own investigation of this episode an exhaustive review of shark science today and theories of shark aggression toward humans, including possible environmental factors (heat, changes in human bathing habits, even bathing suit styles), speculations on the perpetrator's exact species, and well-reasoned arguments and conclusions. Fernicola is a recognized authority on the 1916 attacks (his work has provided the basis for Discovery Channel and History Channel documentaries on the subject), but he marshals so much data that his book fails to live up to its lurid title, giving its looming competitor the edge. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

In the summer of 1916, an unthinkable horror occurred that shocked Americans out of their complacency and innocence: a rogue white shark left its customary deep ocean habitat, found its way to the towns of Beach Haven and Spring Lake in New Jersey, and began attacking swimmers. Ultimately, four swimmers died and a fifth was seriously injured. Before the United States entered World War I there was a marked rise in recreational ocean swimming owing to an increase in wealth and more people seeking leisure activities. Capuzzo laces this suspenseful story with interesting social history, such as the changing style of bathing costumes, the customs observed by the Edwardian elite, and the way people viewed the natural world. Factual information about shark physiology and behavior heightens the tension as the tale progresses. Once it was accepted that a shark was responsible, hysteria led to one of the most extensive shark hunts in history. Four times a nominee for the Pulitzer Prize, Capuzzo has created a riveting thriller that does not lessen its grip until the final page. Len Cariou is an exceptional reader whose smooth voice and inflection appropriately evoke the manners and period. Highly recommended for all public libraries. Gloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll., Kansas City, MO Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-An adaptation of Capuzzo's adult book, Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in an Age of Innocence (Broadway, 2001). During the summer of 1916, just as railroad travel enabled city dwellers to make day-trips to the seashore and swimming in the ocean became popular, bathers along the East Coast were frightened away by a series of vicious attacks in the water. During a one-month period, three men and one boy were killed. Initial opinions of the attacker ranged from sea turtles to killer whales or swordfish, before it was determined to be the work of a rogue white shark. Capuzzo describes the shark's quest to satiate his hunger with the flesh of humans, sometimes verging close to anthropomorphism as he builds an atmosphere of suspense about the creature, its wanderings and its means of attack. The menacing cover of a gaping shark's mouth, the addition of black-and-white photos and newspaper clippings, and the suspenseful writing add to the accessibility of this work for young people. There are no footnotes, but an explanation of the sources used to compile this account is offered along with a sampling of books consulted. Peter Benchley's Shark Trouble (Random, 2002) and Thomas B. Allen's Shark Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance (Lyons, 2001) offer wider-ranging examples of shark attacks, along with ways to avoid them.-Pam Spencer Holley, Young Adult Literature Specialist, Virginia Beach, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Internet Book Watch

Veteran reader Len Cariou lends his smooth and fine voice to Close To Shore, a true story of 1916 when a rogue white shark attacked swimmers along the New Jersey shore. American history comes to life as a real shark hunt changes lives in this unusual true account. Read all 6 "From The Critics" >