The Last Island

Bestselling author of 1861: The Civil War Awakening (Knopf / Vintage). Finalist for the LA Times Book Prize in History. Book of the Year at the History Book Club. Listed among the best books of the year by the New York Times, The Atlantic, Kirkus Reviews, Slate, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Audiobook was the winner of an Audie award for best history title.

Apart from John Allen Chau — the young missionary adventurer who did not live to tell the tale — Adam Goodheart is the only American known to have visited North Sentinel Island.

Publication will coincide with the release of a National Geographic documentary, The Mission. It tells the story of North Sentinel Island and John Allen Chau's fatal visit there. Adam is interviewed in the film and has been asked by the filmmakers to take part in the documentary's promotion.

North Sentinel has what might be called a worldwide fan base. Amidst a global culture of hyperconnectivity, the bow-and-arrow-wielding Sentinelese are portrayed as the lone holdouts. Especially since the death Chau in 2018, millions of people around the world have been fascinated with this remote tribe. A few statistics:

* YouTube videos about North Sentinel Island have garnered a cumulative total of well over 100 million views.

* Hundreds of posts about North Sentinel Island on Twitter, Instagram, Reddit and Quora have drawn millions of views, comments, and likes. A recent Instagram post drew over 256,000 likes.

* Interest has not stopped since John Chau’s death. A post about Chau and the Sentinelese on Quora just two weeks ago has already garnered over 100,000 views.

* The death of John Allen Chau drew intense press coverage in almost every major news outlet. For instance, the New York Times ran seven stories about the incident in just a week, including a front-page feature.

Yet there has never been any book published about North Sentinel Island. The Last Island will be the first.

Illustrated with 34 photos and maps.