Prologue -- The risks -- The rewards -- To build a better boat -- "If we make it 'til daylight..." -- Pride of the American side -- Thirty-eight hours in a raft -- The captain -- The Toledo Express -- The sailor's life -- The veterans -- The rookies -- Lunch with the captain -- One last run (November 8-10, 1975) -- The sailor's code -- Searching -- All that remains -- Epilogue

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking, the bestselling author of The Great Halifax Explosion tells the definitive story of the "Mighty Fitz."

On November 10, 1975, during one of the fiercest storms ever to hit the Great Lakes, the massive freighter Edmund Fitzgerald vanished beneath the waves of Lake Superior, taking all twenty-nine crew members with her. In The Gales of November, acclaimed journalist John U. Bacon delivers the definitive account of this haunting maritime disaster and the era that produced it. Drawing on over a hundred interviews with families, friends, and shipmates of the lost men, Bacon explores how the Fitzgerald came to symbolize the power and promise of America's postwar industrial might--and how its loss marked the end of a booming age of Great Lakes shipping. Both an emotional tribute and a gripping narrative history, this book vividly captures the human stories behind the tragedy and the enduring mystery that still surrounds the "Mighty Fitz."