What Were the Shark Attacks of 1916?

The panic-filled summer of 1916, when multiple deadly shark attacks shocked the nation, is chronicled in this gripping addition to the New York Times Best-Selling What Was? series.

On July 1, 1916, witnesses watched in horror as twenty-eight-year-old Charles Vansant was attacked and killed by a shark in shallow water off Beach Haven, New Jersey—the first recorded shark attack in American history. Scientists claimed a shark could not be responsible, but more deadly attacks soon followed along...