In the Shadows of the Morning

Philip Caputo's passion for travel and adventure was inspired by the works of Joseph Conrad, Jack London, and Herman Melville, and through the years this passion led to a rugged writer's life, filled with hair-raising experiences in the jungles of Vietnam, the rubble of Beirut, and the savannas of Africa. In the Shadows of the Morning collects Caputo's essays for the first time, each imbued with the powerful and memorable writing for which he has become so well known.

In "The Ahab Complex," Caputo recalls a life-and-death struggle with a majestic giant blue marlin off the coast of Florida whose quarter-ton body "lit up as if a gigantic light had flashed in the water." He recounts his travels in Kenya's largest national park among the only lions to have a natural tendency to stalk and eat human beings, and where the accounts of their gruesome escapades invaded his dreams. In the title piece, he reflects on a harrowing trip down the Alaskan river that nearly claimed his son's life, nature's indifference to human loss, and an evocative account of letting go.