David Gann did a fantastic job putting mountains of information together. I often thought of Capote's In Cold Blood while reading. Both took real world events of non fiction and presented it as easy to read novels. Wonderfully done. 

The story itself is not a happy one. Yet there is some pleasantness in learning about the lives of the survivors. The events detailed are quite harrowing. I can not imagine living during that time of human history. While the book covers the truth of the events, as presented by many different accounts afterwards, it does so in as gentlemanly a way as possible. There is sickness, death, infighting, murder, mutiny, etc. yet none of it is overtly graphic. Rather it reads clinically. Simply statements of fact detailing what occurred. 

I enjoyed this read. I found myself easily pulled along with the story. It is certainly one that I will recommend to my dad, who likes history, and to anyone that appreciates non fiction novels.