The sensationalism and hysteria of the attempt to rescue Floyd Collins from the cave where he was trapped in early 1925 generated America’s first true media spectacle and one of the seminal events of the century.
The crowds that gathered outside Sand Cave in Kentucky turned the rescue site into a carnival. Collins’ situation was front-page news throughout the country, ranked the third largest news story between two World Wars. Hourly bulletins interrupted radio programs, and even Congress recessed to hear the latest word.
With a new epilogue revealing additional information about the Floyd Collins story that has come to light since the book was first published, Trapped! is both a tense adventure and a brilliant historical recreation of the past.
Robert K. Murray is professor emeritus and former chairman of the department of history at Pennsylvania State University.
Roger W. Brucker is an American cave explorer and author of books about caves. He helped create the Cave Research Foundation, which set new standards for cave exploration, and coauthored The Longest Cave about Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave.
Joe Barrett, an actor and Audie Award and Earphones Award–winning narrator, has appeared both on and off Broadway as well as in hundreds of radio and television commercials.