The Death Ship
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- Synopsis
- An American sailor overstays his shore leave in post-WWI Antwerp and is left behind by his ship. Having neither money nor identification papers, the "authorities" hound this "man without a country" throughout Europe until he gets a job on a "death ship" - a ship so decrepit that its owners can profit from it only by letting (or making) it sink and claiming the insurance money. Think of this book as "Two Years Before the Mast" with teeth and claws. In addition to being a rough but often lyrical account of the hard life of a working sailor, the novel also rails against the dehumanization of the working man by the combined greed and hypocrisy of runaway capitalism and uncaring governmental bureaucracy. This was a common theme of the author, whose true identity has never been definitely confirmed. It is thought he was a anarchist jailed for revolutionary activities in Germany after WWI, who escaped prison and settled in Mexico. He also wrote with great respect about the indigenous people of Mexico. This book and one other were quite popular in the U.S. during the mid-1950's. The other was The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which was made into a 1948 movie starring Humphrey Bogart.
- Copyright:
- 1962
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Excellent
- Book Size:
- 372 Pages
- ISBN-13:
- 9780882080345
- Publisher:
- Lawrence Hill & Company, Publishers, Inc.
- Date of Addition:
- 12/05/15
- Copyrighted By:
- B. Traven
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Literature and Fiction
- Submitted By:
- William Korn
- Proofread By:
- Bobbi Elaine
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.