Rating: 
Summary: Powerful
Review: I think that a book should actually be written about this amazingly researched book. The facts, the presentation, the authentic sources etc. just make this book stand above so many other historical appraoches which attempt to capture unique natural disasters. You have to read it to believe it.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome.....Reads like a Novel!
Review: I was always interested in the story of a Great White Shark attack along the Jersey Shore. It is mentioned in all the shark books, referenced in Jaws, and shown on the Discovery channel. It is a story I have always been interested but could never find any whole books about. And what did I see in the book store??? Not one but TWO books on the subject.So now the the question was which one to buy. I read parts of both and quickly discovered that Dr. Fernicola clearly seemed to know more about sharks and the subject. Not to knock the other book, but Fernicola's book shows a deeper knowledge of sharks and the incident of 1916. Needless to say, it only took 3 days to read this entire book. It is so interesting. He does a great job describing the times and historical background. He does a great job telling about the attacks. He does a great job discussing sharks and theories about sharks. The book is well written. It has great information on the 1916 attacks and the times they took place in. It is also a great lesson on sharks in general. I have family on the Jersey shore and it amazes me that this could take place there. Plus in a creek miles from the ocean...YIKES! This was a book I read cover to cover and immmediatly passed on to friends. Anyone who likes sharks, shark week on TV, or JAWS will love this book.
Rating:
Summary: twelve days of terror
Review: I will be thinking of this book each and every time that I go swimming at the NJ shore.At any given time I did not realize how dangerous sharks could be until I read this book. It reminded me of the shark attacts that occured in Matawan Creek in 1916. Does DR.Fernicola have an e-mail address? I would like to know if there is anything in print about the Matawan Creek shark attacts.
Rating: 
Summary: Truth, Errors, and Mishmash
Review: If Fernicola had stuck to the facts, his book would be worth a higher rating than a two. I think that his attempt to intermingle social history with the shark incidents is interesting. Unfortunately, his investigation of the 1916 New Jersey shark attacks is a mishmash of facts, errors, and fanciful views. One imaginative section deals with a supposed linkage between German espionage in America, U-boats along the East Coast, and the shark attacks. I will deal with this later. Then there are glaring errors in at least one section. First of all, during the summer of 1916, only one German merchant submarine appeared on the East Coast, not "U-boats in multiple U.S. ports." Fernicola may be confusing the friendly visit made to a New England port several months later by U-53. Fernicola refers again to visits on the Mid-Atlantic and southern New England coasts during this time by two German U-boats, the "Deutschland" and the "Bremen." The "Deutschland," an undersea unarmed freighter arrived in Baltimore on July 10, 1916 and returned to the States on November 1. Actually, the "Bremen," the other merchant sub mentioned by Fernicola, never reached the American seaboard, as it was lost at sea soon after departing Germany. The author would have you believe that the submarines were to carry condensed milk and foodstuffs back to Germany. This was only one of many rumors as to the submersibles' intended cargo. The fact is, it became well-known before her departure from Baltimore in August that the "Deutschland" would carry much- needed metals and crude rubber as a valuable military cargo. Let me mention a few more inaccuracies. Contrary to Fernicola's thinking, the captain of the "Deutschland" never refused an inspection by U.S. officials. If this had happened, the sub would have been promptly interned. American officials made a thorough investigation of the vessel in port to determine whether it carried torpedoes, torpedo tubes, or deck guns. Within two days, it was announced that the submarine was truly a civilian cargo-bearing vessel, lacking armament, and would be treated like any surface merchant ship of a belligerent nation that entered an American harbor. This is contrary to the impression left by Fernicola that the government seriously considered detaining the boat permanently because it might be a warship. The author emphasizes the fact that she "carried two small-caliber guns." not realizing that the Captain and officers of most merchant ships routinely carry on board small arms, especially during wartime. Also, the author states that the sub moved north and stopped in Bridgeport, Connecticut on its way back to Germany. This is another piece of fiction. These and other errors may derive from an effort to put out the book in a hurry to a country where shark attacks were big news in 2001. There were many rumors, mixed with facts, published in 1916 newspapers about the shark attacks, German espionage, and sightings of U-boats off the Atlantic coast. But the unverified snippets selectively-chosen are fuel for gossip, and should not underlie a serious book of non-fiction. Even the major newspapers, which Fernicola said he examined, carried well-written, factually-based articles. It's a pity that Fernicola never consulted the authoritative book by Dwight Messimer, "The Merchant U-Boat: Adventures of the Deutschland, 1916-1918." The large number of errors detected in this section of the book makes me wonder how careful the author was about the rest of the volume. The other major problem I have with this work concerns the attempt to invoke conspiracy in the summer shark attacks. The author tries unsuccessfully to associate the shark attacks with German espionage and marauding U-boats on the East Coast. Furthermore, Fernicola spins out a web of fantasy trying to convince readers that the enterprising Germans used "a diabolical new device to cause innocent swimmers to become lunch for marauding sharks." There is not a shred of evidence presented for such fiction. Such writing may help to sell books but it detracts from good expository writing and scholarship. I cannot recommend this book to serious readers.
Rating: 
Summary: Good research, Spotty Writing
Review: In July 1916, five people along the New Jersey coast were mauled by a shark (or by sharks), four of them fatally. Dr. Fernicola has devoted many years of his life to researching the attacks, and this devotion to research is a mixed blessing in the book. He uses the data he has gathered to make a compelling argument for the identity of the attacker(s) and the reasons behind the attacks. However, Fernicola's writing style tends to try and bring in far too many details about his research that have, at best, tangential relevance to the shark attacks. The book therefore tends to meander from topic to topic, with frequent discourses into how he found witnesses, German sabotage in the United States, and so on. These forays detract from the book, and make it a more difficult read than it should be. In all, Fernicola has laid out a convincing argument to explain the 1916 attacks. He would have done better, however, to get a better editor before releasing the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Material, Unreadable Prose
Review: Mr. Fernicola is badly in need of an editor. Unfortunately, he does not seem to have one, and his book is testament to this on a paragraph by paragraph basis. Filled with mangled phrases, bizarre digressions, lack of narrative coherence, dreadful historical generalizations, pointless personal anecdotes and sappy sentimentality of the most jarring kind. Imagine the worst kind of local history writing - complete with small town boosterism and infatuation with staggeringly boring local trivia. Now imagine it spread out over 330 pages. Avoid at all costs. Really.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendous German Insights
Review: Obviously I read this book to learn more about the 1916 shark attacks but I had no idea I would learn of untouched German scientific/military attributes. The author must have easily spent thousands of hours and read thousands of primary sources to glean so many new facts about the tumultuous times. It is no wonder that would-be(or wanna-be) historians do "double takes" when Fernicola reveals astounding facts of the period. That always seems to happen when earlier researchers simply rely on out-dated/traditional texts(written by scholars for hire or hoobyists)to determine what was "history." This book looks at things in a novel light and SHEDS light on un-noticed events of the time eg. Franz Von Rintalin the German Dark Invader and the U-Boats(seen and unseen). This is history LIVE. It is history that is recorded out of the way people of the TIME saw it. It's not just some product of an armchair geezer getting bonked by what he always thought was true. This is all true....and scary...
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Read
Review: Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. Instead of just giving facts about the attacks, the author really places you in the setting and you can vividly imagine life in New Jersey in 1916. I had read about these attacks before, but never in such detail. I also really like how the author gives you every opportunity to formulate your own theory on what shark or sharks were responsible, as well as his own theory at the end. I will read this book again and for a person that doesn't normally read, that's saying something.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Read
Review: Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. Instead of just giving facts about the attacks, the author really places you in the setting and you can vividly imagine life in New Jersey in 1916. I had read about these attacks before, but never in such detail. I also really like how the author gives you every opportunity to formulate your own theory on what shark or sharks were responsible, as well as his own theory at the end. I will read this book again and for a person that doesn't normally read, that's saying something.
Rating:
Summary: Simply the Bible on the 1916 attacks
Review: Perhaps every 20 or 30 years, or even only every half century, does a researcher/writer shed new light on historical events such as this. Dr. Fernicola not only brings us the 1916 attacks in an exhaustive fashion, but he has probed events surrounding the World War I period in ways that has never been done before. It's no wonder he his work has been highlighted on ten television documentaries and now the smashing made-for-tv movie.
Cudos to the good doctor and forget about the late-comer lilliputians nibbling at your toes.
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