Winner of the 2015 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award: āHorwitzās dogged reportingā¦combined with crisp, cinematic writing, produces a powerful narrativeā¦. He has written a book that is instructive and passionate and deserving a wide audienceā (PEN Award Citation).
Six years in the making, War of the Whales is the āgripping detective taleā (Publishers Weekly) of a crusading attorney, Joel Reynolds, who stumbles on one of the US Navyās best-kept secrets: a submarine detection system that floods entire ocean basins with high-intensity soundāand drives whales onto beaches. As Joel Reynolds launches a legal fight to expose and challenge the Navy program, marine biologist Ken Balcomb witnesses a mysterious mass stranding of whales near his research station in the Bahamas. Investigating this calamity, Balcomb is forced to choose between his conscience and an oath of secrecy he swore to the Navy in his youth.
āWar of the Whales reads like the best investigative journalism, with cinematic scenes of strandings and dramatic David-and-Goliath courtroom dramas as activists diligently hold the Navy accountableā (The Huffington Post). When Balcomb and Reynolds team up to expose the truth behind an epidemic of mass strandings, the stage is set for an epic battle that pits admirals against activists, rogue submarines against weaponized dolphins, and national security against the need to safeguard the ocean environment. āStrong and valuableā (The Washington Post), ābrilliantly toldā (Bob Woodward), author Joshua Horwitz combines the best of legal drama, natural history, and military intrigue to āraise serious questions about the unchecked use of secrecy by the military to advance its institutional powerā (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).