The Captain and the Glory: An Entertainment

Written by Dave Eggers

Narrated by John Hodgman

A savage satire of the United States in the throes of insanity, this blisteringly funny novel tells the story of a noble ship, the Glory, and the loud, clownish, and foul Captain who steers it to the brink of disaster.

When the decorated Captain of a great ship descends the gangplank for the final time, a new leader, a man with a yellow feather in his hair, vows to step forward. Though he has no experience, no knowledge of nautical navigation or maritime law, and though he has often remarked he doesn't much like boats, he solemnly swears to shake things up. Together with his band of petty thieves and confidence men known as the Upskirt Boys, the Captain thrills his passengers, writing his dreams and notions on the cafeteria wipe-away board, boasting of his exemplary anatomy, devouring cheeseburgers, and tossing overboard anyone who displeases him. Until one day a famous pirate, long feared by passengers of the Glory but revered by the Captain for how phenomenally masculine he looked without a shirt while riding a horse, appears on the horizon . . .

Absurd, hilarious, and all too recognizable, The Captain and the Glory is a wicked farce of contemporary America only Dave Eggers could dream up.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio
• Release date: Nov 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9780593215029

Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers is the bestselling author of seven books, including A Hologram for the King, a finalist for the National Book Award; Zeitoun, winner of the American Book Award and Dayton Literary Peace Prize; and What Is the What, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won France’s Prix Medici. That book, about Valentino Achak Deng, a survivor of the civil war in Sudan, gave birth to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, which operates a secondary school in South Sudan run by Mr. Deng. Eggers is the founder and editor of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house based in San Francisco that produces a quarterly journal, a monthly magazine, The Believer:, a quarterly DVD of short films and documentaries, Wholphin; and an oral history series, Voice of Witness. In 2002, with Nínive Calegari he cofounded 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for youth in the Mission District of San Francisco. Local communities have since opened sister 826 centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Ann Arbor, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Eggers is also the founder of ScholarMatch, a program that matches donors with students needing funds for college tuition. A native of Chicago, Eggers now lives in Northern California with his wife and two children.

Reviews for The Captain and the Glory

[Maggie Norris · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I have read and enjoyed at least one earlier Book by Evers, which I found very satisfying. This one not so much. It felt like 10th grade. I didn’t finish it.

[MR. GAMER VIP-69 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is good good very very good it sounds grate

[Ross · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Don't waste your time. The author tries to be clever but fails miserably. But wait--it is so bad that I'm not sure if the author was even trying. The entire book feels as if it were penned by a 13 year old who watches too much 24 hour cable news. In the end, what you were hoping to be rip-roaring hilarity comes across as pitiful pouting. Do yourself a favor and skip this one.