It was "The Perfect Storm," a tempest created by so rare a convergence of factors — a hurricane from Bermuda, a Canadian cold front, and a storm from the Great Lakes — that it could not possibly have been worse. Boasting ferocious waves ten stories high and moaning winds approximately 120 miles an hour at the storm's height, the sea reached inconceivable levels few people on earth have ever seen or faced. Few, except the six-man crew of the Andrea Gail, a 72-foot steel swordfish boat — one of the biggest moneymakers in the Gloucester, Massachusetts harbor — that disappeared without a trace in the storm's hellish heart off the coast of Nova Scotia.

With taut precision, journalist Sebastian Junger illuminates the dangerous yet lucrative trade of off-shore fishing and coolly recreates the last moments of the Andrea Gail crew; recounts the heroes and victims of daring rescues upon the ravaged sea; and offers candid accounts of others irrevocably changed by the storm. Brilliantly conceived, breathtakingly written, this unforgettably moving and fascinating narrative brings to life the savage fury of this incredible maelstrom, and of the courage, terror, and awe manifested at its peak.