Trapped!: The Story of Floyd Collins

by Robert K Murray, Roger W. Brucker, Tina Landau (Foreword)

When small-town farmer and cave explorer Floyd Collins became trapped in a southern Kentucky cave in early 1925, the sensationalism and hysteria of the rescue attempt generated America's first true media spectacle, making Collins's story one of the most prominent of the century. The crowds that gathered outside Sand Cave turned the rescue site into a carnival. Collins's plight was front-page news throughout the country, hourly bulletins interrupted radio programs, and Congress recessed to hear the latest word.

With a new foreword by Tina Landau, bookwriter and director of the musical Floyd Collins, as well as a new afterword by Roger W. Brucker, Trapped! is a tense adventure and a brilliant historical re-creation of the past—a tale as enthralling today as it was when the event took place over one hundred years ago.

364 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 15, 2025

Reviews

[Annalesa Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed this book! I don't think I would have been as interested if I hadn't seen the musical first, but it was fun to take a deeper dive into the story of such a beautiful and fascinating musical.