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33 Men, February 2011
Hardcover
Inside the Miraculous Survival and Dramatic Rescue of the Chilean Miners
Putnam
February 2011
On Sale: February 14, 2011
320 pages
ISBN: 0399157778
EAN: 9780399157776
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
On August 5, 2010, at the San José mine in northern Chile,
33 men were entombed 2,300 feet below the earth when a slab
of rock the size of a skyscraper sheared off the mountain
and sealed shut their only access to the surface. The miners
were discovered alive 17 days later, and for the next seven
weeks after that discovery, as rescuers sought to bring them
to the surface, the eyes of the world shifted to this
previously obscure corner of South America. More than 2,000
journalists and reporters flooded in to cover the drama. But
despite worldwide interest, the media rarely delved to
either the front lines of the rescue or below the surface of
the tragedy. Locked behind police lines, most reporters were
reduced to months of interviewing family members and
politicians. However, award-winning journalist Jonathan
Franklin was the exception. The print journalist with the most extensive access and
contacts, Franklin reported, recorded, and filmed from the
front row of the operation as it unfolded and, as a result,
was afforded unprecedented and unique access to the miners
and the rescuers. Now, for the first time ever, he tells
their full story in 33 Men: Inside the Miraculous Survival
and Dramatic Rescue of the Chilean Miners Franklin's status as a "local"--he has lived in Chile for 16
years, speaks fluent Spanish, and has six daughters with his
Chilean wife--and his 25 years' experience as an
investigative reporter provided him access other journalists
could only dream of. For almost six weeks he lived on the
hillside that served as the rescue operation's nerve center.
He sat in on planning meetings, pored over government
documents, and recorded sessions between the miners and the
psychologists charged with looking after their mental
health. He conducted interviews with miners' families,
rescue workers, engineers, drill operators, and many others,
including President Piñera of Chile. Even before the miners
were rescued, while they were still underground, Franklin
interviewed them via a makeshift phone that connected them
to the surface. "I sat in this container where you could
pick up a phone, dial eleven, and the phone would ring down
below," says Franklin, who developed such a bond of trust
with the miners that they described in great detail the
dramatic first 17 days of their confinement. Cut off from
the outside world and unsure if they would ever be found,
let alone rescued, they were forced to create their own
unique society while struggling to come to grips with the
likelihood of a slow, lingering death. Once the miners were rescued, Franklin interviewed virtually
all of them--at their homes, at his house, on horseback, and
at the beach. "All of this allowed me to develop a very
special relationship with the miners," says Franklin. "They
showed me the videos they made while they were trapped,
which have never been shared with anyone. Two of them lent
me the private diaries they kept while underground. And
rather than having to rely on hearsay or rumor, if I had a
question, I could go directly to them and ask. Above all,
they allowed me to get inside their heads as they described
the experience and detailed what happened day by day." The result is 33 Men, the most authoritative book on the
Chilean mine disaster. This timely book is an uplifting
story of survival, endurance, and unprecedented human
conquest. Written with the author's renowned eye for detail,
it captures the remarkable story of the miners who grasped
the essence of the human spirit in order to survive their
entrapment, and the men and women who literally moved a
mountain to set them free.
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