"Who was the real Robinson Crusoe? And what did he really experience during his solitary stay on a desert island? Souhami's revelatory account of piracy, betrayal, and raw survival in the eighteenth century leads us to the answers to both these questions." "Born a poor Scotsman, Alexander Selkirk signed with William Dampier, a pirate as famous for his self-promotion as for his naval success, on an ill-fated quest to sack the famous Manila galleon, one of the richest prizes on the southern seas. Put ashore on an island three hundred miles west of South America, Selkirk spent four years learning to survive with little more than his bare hands." "By using accounts from Selkirk, his fellow sailors, two women who claimed to be his wife, and her own experiences of spending three months on the island, acclaimed biographer Diana Souhami evokes all the strangeness and wonder of his story and interprets the haze created by time, literature, and legend. The result is a brilliantly lucid and lyrical recovery and discovery of a forgotten man and his unforgettable experience."--BOOK JACKET.

Originally published: London : Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2001.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-235) and index.