How a determined scientist cracked the case of the first successful-and disastrous-submarine attack
Rachel Lance is an engineer and blast injury specialist who teaches biomechanics as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and serves as a consultant for military diving research projects at Duke University. Before returning to graduate school, Dr. Lance spent several years as a biomedical engineer for the United States Navy, working to build specialized underwater equipment for use by navy divers, SEALs, and Marine Force Recon personnel. Her doctoral work presented the first equations to predict the risk of injury and fatality from underwater explosions and has already received numerous international citations. A native of suburban Detroit, Dr. Lance lives with her husband in Durham, North Carolina.
“A page-turning tale of personal obsession to solve a great
historical mystery frozen in time. Rachel Lance dives deep into an
era during the Civil War when combatants took almost unimaginable
risks, then uses a thrilling combination of creativity, ingenuity,
and curiosity to answer questions long thought lost beneath the
waves. A wonderful adventure told by that rarest of breeds--a
scientist who writes beautifully and won’t relent until she
knows.”
—Robert Kurson, New York Times bestselling author
of Shadow Divers and Rocket Men
“In the Waves draws the reader deep into a layered mystery, rich
with explosive experimentation, Civil War history, and the engaging
personal narrative of a young scientist. As persuasive as she is
passionate, Rachel Lance expertly unravels the tragedy of the
Hunley, complete with its scientific and historical context. Yet
Lance’s book reveals more than torpedo blasts and shock waves: it
is an inspiring look at what is possible when devotion and science
are joined.”
—Nathalia Holt, New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the
Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us from Missiles to the Moon
to Mars
“In the Waves is a thrilling expedition into one of the great
unsolved mysteries of the Civil War. Harnessing the revelatory
wonders of the digital age and her own undersea expertise--along
with gritty determination and persuasive powers--Rachel Lance has
delivered a mesmerizing tale of science, history, tragedy, and
adventure!”
—Liza Mundy, author of Code Girls
“In the Waves is one part science book, one part historical
narrative, one part memoir . . . harrowing and inspiring.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Lance deftly blends historical narrative and the unraveling of
this scientific puzzle in a thoroughly accessible and
entertaining style. . . . This engaging investigative work will
intrigue readers of Civil War and naval histories and sleuths
of scientific puzzles.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“Ever since the Confederate submarine HL Hunley was brought up from
the ocean floor in 2000, with the skeletons of its eight crewmen
still at their posts inside the intact hull, conservationists and
historians have speculated about their fate. Were they drowned by
water pouring in from damage by the torpedo explosion that sank
their target, the USS Housatonic? Were they asphyxiated by lack of
oxygen and carbon dioxide poisoning? Or did they die from some
other cause? In this enthralling account based on extensive
research and testing, the US Navy blast-injury specialist Rachel
Lance solves the mystery in convincing fashion and offers an
important contribution to Civil War literature.”
—James M. McPherson, Princeton University, author of the Pulitzer
Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
“They were the first crew of a submarine to sink an enemy ship, but
did they ever have a hope of coming home? To find out, Rachel Lance
brings together an unlikely mix of old-style weaponry, modern
science, and people who love to make things go bang. This is her
determined search to uncover the truth about an impossible mission.
It is a great read!"
—Sherry Sontag, co-author of Blind Man's Bluff
“Rachel Lance’s In The Waves is a captivating magic trick
of a book: part detective story, part scientific mystery, and part
personal essay on the challenges—and triumphs of—researching
stubborn history. Lance weaves these threads with astonishing
aplomb, and the devastating denouement will haunt you long after
you’ve turned the final page.”
—Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The Ghosts of
Eden Park
“[Lance] has a firm command of both the scientific and historical
subject matter and writes with flair. Her richly detailed account
appears to definitively solve this Civil War–era mystery.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Anyone who enjoys reading outstanding narrative nonfiction will
absolutely love Rachel Lance’s In the Waves. Reading it is like
watching Sherlock Holmes investigate a murder mystery—if 'Sherlock'
were an exquisite writer, a woman, and had to solve the mystery
while battling petty academic jealousies. Lance unravels the
science and medical hypotheses with engaging observations,
venturing from Kurt Vonnegut and the allied bombing of Dresden to
Senator Strom Thurmond. And this storytelling 'Sherlock' also packs
a genuine sense of humor.”
—Gary Kinder, author of Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea
“In the Waves—a perfect title for Rachel Lance’s captivating tale
documenting her obsession with solving the Civil War mystery about
a tiny Confederate submarine that successfully blasted apart a
Union ship in the Charleston harbor and then disappeared without a
trace for 131 years. With determination and a knack for
storytelling, Dr. Lance re-creates the daring mission of the HL
Hunley and her demise, using precision-based bio-medical expertise
to solve the mystery of how her eight-man crew died.”
—Ann Blackman, author of Wild Rose, Civil War Spy
“When we brought the Hunley up in 2000, we were shattered with
exhaustion and had put everything we had into prying the Hunley
from the mud of Charleston harbor, but the recovery team assumed
that the scientists and researchers who came after us would bring
the same passion to the science and the story of Hunley as we had.
We were not wrong. Dr. Lance brings a razor-sharp mind and an
equally sharp wit to the greatest remaining mystery of the Civil
War—how and why did Hunley sink? [Lance's] rigorous and highly
accessible science, leavened with more than a few lovingly
described characters and wry observations of graduate student life
makes In the Waves a compelling explanation and a rollicking good
read!”
—David L. Conlin, PhD, Hunley recovery team field director, chief
archaeologist, National Park Service
“Lively . . . An entertaining account of research that solved a
historical mystery.”
—Kirkus Reviews
"This solid, engaging mystery recounts Lance’s quest to solve the
mystery of the crew of the Confederate
submersible Hunley . . . in a lively, entertaining,
novelistic style that carries the reader along with all the verve
of an Agatha Christie whodunit."
—Booklist
“Important, timely, and deeply entertaining . . . In the
Waves is many things, all of them entertaining to read: a
scientific documentary woven with thriller-novel intrigue, a
serious history accented with gentle snark, and a rapidly paced
recounting of the dogged pursuit of scientific truth and a PhD.
But In the Waves is also an accessible and important
exploration of the injury deeply affecting the current generation
of America’s service members.”
—Garden & Gun
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