#1 New York Times Bestseller “No one will come away unmoved by the book, and no one will be able to put it down…. There is no way of reading Alive without a heightened sense of one’s own life and its value.” —  New Republic Sixteen Men, Seventy-Two Days, and Insurmountable Odds—the Classic Adventure of Survival in the Andes On October 12, 1972, an Uruguayan Air Force plane carrying a team of rugby players crashed in the remote snowy peaks of the Andes. Ten weeks later, only sixteen of the forty-five passengers were found alive. This is the story of those ten weeks spent in the shelter of the plane's fuselage without food and with scarcely any hope of a rescue. The survivors protected and helped one another, and came to the difficult conclusion that to live meant doing the unimaginable. Confronting nature at its most furious, two brave young men risked their lives to hike through the mountains looking for help. A tale of astonishing bravery and adventure, Alive is much more than a survival story, it is a breathtaking saga of human courage The P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including interviews, recommended reading, and more. “A classic in the literature of survival.” - Newsweek “A great book . . . . an incredible saga. Read’s accomplishment in recording a struggle both physical and spiritual is superb.” - Philadelphia Inquirer “A chilling tale…. Will involve the reader as thoroughly as the best adventure novel. A book of real and lasting value.” - Rolling Stone “Superb…flawless…. A testimonial to the durability and determination of young men who might have chosen to die and simply would not.” - Detroit Free Press “No one will come away unmoved by the book, and no one will be able to put it down…. There is no way of reading Alive without a heightened sense of one’s own life and its value.” - New Republic “Thunderous entertainment...A classic human adventure...A narrative of terrific and enduring significance.” - New York Times “A masterpiece...It is inconceivable to me that this story could have been better told.” - Graham Greene “Tragic, heartwarming, inspiring, shocking, terrifying, and true.” - Columbus Dispatch “An adventure story to rival those of Hillary and Tensing, Thor Heyerdahl, or Jacques Cousteau.” - Chicago Tribune “A book you won’t soon forget.” - Cleveland Press “An adventure both physical and spiritual...Mr. Read was chosen by the survivors to write a full and balanced account of their ordeal, and he has done so with conspicuous success.” - The New Yorker On October 12, 1972, an Uruguayan Air Force plane carrying a teamof rugby players crashed in the remote snowy peaks of the Andes. Ten weeks later, only sixteen of the forty-five passengers were found alive. This is the story of those ten weeks spent in the shelter of the plane's fuselage without food and with scarcely any hope of a rescue. The survivors protected and helped one another, and came to the difficult conclusion that to live meant doing the unimaginable. Confronting nature at its most furious, two brave young men risked their lives to hike through the mountains looking for help -- and ultimately found it. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more. Paul Piers Read is the author of numerous, critically acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction, including A Patriot in Berlin (1996), Ablaze: The Story of the Heroes and Victims of Chernobyl (1993), On the Third Day (1989), and A Season in the West (1989). Mr. Read lives in London. Alive Sixteen Men, Seventy-two Days, and Insurmountable Odds--the Classic Adventure of Survival in the Andes By Piers Paul Read HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Copyright ©2005 Piers Paul Read All right reserved. ISBN: 0060778660 Chapter One Uruguay, one of the smallest countries on the South American continent, was founded on the eastern bank of the River Plate as a buffer state between the emerging giants of Brazil and Argentina. Geographically it was a pleasant land, with cattle running wild over immense pasture lands, and its population lived modestly either as merchants, doctors, and lawyers in the city of Montevideo or as proud and restless gauchos on the range. The history of the Uruguayans in the nineteenth century is filled first with fierce battles for their independence against Argentina and Brazil and then with equally savage civil skirmishes between the Blanco and Colorado parties, the Conservatives from the interior and the Liberals from Montevideo. In 1904 the last Blanco uprising was defeated by the Colorado president, José Batlle y Ordóñez, who then established a secular and democratic state which for many decades was regarded as the most advanced and enlightened in South America. The economy of this welfare state depended upon the pastoral and agricultural products which Uruguay exported to Europe, and while world prim