Sag Harbor - On Saturday, March 6 at 6 p.m. Canio's Cultural Cafe will host a reading by adventure writer Anthony Brandt from his latest publication "The Man Who Ate His Boots," published by Knopf. "The Man Who Ate His Boots" is an enthralling and often harrowing history of the adventurers who searched for the Northwest Passage, the holy grail of 19th-century British exploration.

After the triumphant end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the British took it upon themselves to accomplish a task they had been attempting since the 16th century: to find the fabled Northwest Passage. The passage would be a shortcut to the Orient via sea route over northern Canada. For the next 35 years the British Admiralty sent out expedition after expedition to probe the ice-bound waters of the Canadian Arctic. On one mission, Sir John Franklin, the Royal Navy hero, vanished into the maze of channels, sounds, and icy seas with two ships and 128 officers and men.

In "The Man Who Ate His Boots," Brandt tells the whole story of the search for the Northwest Passage, from its beginnings early in the age of exploration through its development into a British national obsession to the final sordid, descent into starvation and cannibalism. Sir John Franklin is the focus of the book but it covers all the major expeditions and a number of fascinating characters, including Franklin's extraordinary wife, Lady Jane, in vivid detail. "The Man Who Ate His Boots" is a rich and engaging work of narrative history that captures the glory and the folly of this ultimately tragic enterprise.

Brandt is the editor of the Adventure Classics series published by National Geographic Society Press, and the books editor at National Geographic Adventure magazine. His previous works include "Thomas Jefferson Travels: Selected Writings 1784-1789" and "The Tragic History of the Sea: Shipwrecks from the Bible to Titanic."

Formerly the book critic at Men's Journal, Brandt has written for The Atlantic, GQ, Esquire, and many other magazines. He lives in Sag Harbor.

This event is free and open to the public.

Upcoming Events

 • Saturday, March 20 at 6 p.m. Celebrating St. Patrick's Day! A concert of Irish rebel songs performed by Terry Sullivan.

 • Saturday, March 27 at 6 p.m. Celebrating Women's History Month, Literary critic Fred Volkmer presents "Rebecca West and Penelope Fitzgerald: an appreciation."