Erik Larson
Hardcover | Pages: 430 pages Rating: 4.09 | 102176 Users | 10968 Reviews
Mention Regarding Books Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
| Title | : | Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania |
| Author | : | Erik Larson |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 430 pages |
| Published | : | March 3rd 2015 by Crown Publishers |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. History. Audiobook. Historical. War. World War I. North American Hi.... American History |
Interpretation Toward Books Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania On May 1, 1915, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were anxious. Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone, and for months, its U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era's great transatlantic "Greyhounds" and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. He knew, moreover, that his ship - the fastest then in service - could outrun any threat. Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger's U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small - hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more--all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history. It is a story that many of us think we know but don't, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour, mystery, and real-life suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope Riddle to President Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster that helped place America on the road to war.Specify Books In Favor Of Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
| Original Title: | Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania |
| ISBN: | 0307408868 (ISBN13: 9780307408860) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Washington State Book Award for Nonfiction (2016), Goodreads Choice Award for History & Biography (2015) |
Rating Regarding Books Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Ratings: 4.09 From 102176 Users | 10968 ReviewsRate Regarding Books Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Larson writes wonderful narrative non fiction, and in this book he has surpassed his own self. The amount of research that went into this book is staggering. It doesn't just cover the bombing of the Lusitania, it covers everything going once at the time and more.What it is like inside a submarine, the roles of the crew members, how it feels and even how it smells. president Wilson's grief at the death of his wife and his courting of his second wife. The career of the Captain of the Lusitania andAs I began reading into the subject, and digging into archives in America and Britain, I found myself intrigued . . . In short, I was hooked. Most everything I knew about the Lusitania/WWI (gleaned from public school and collegian textbooks) has turned out to be watered down half-truths, at best. After reading Dead Wake I could almost hear Paul Harvey saying, with a nod of approval: Now you know the rest of the story. Dead Wake, is phenomenally superb! Its captivating, insightful, atmospheric
This is a fascinating book about the sinking of the Lusitania, the British ocean liner that was torpedoed by a German submarine in May 1915. Nearly 1,200 people died, including 128 Americans. I didn't know much about the Lusitania before I read this book, but I should have because it was one of the critical events that pushed America to enter World War I.What Erik Larson does well is to put the Lusitania event in the context of history: the reader gets a good sense of what was happening in the
Book 1 for 2016.Erik Larson strikes again only this time with the speed and grace of a scythe. Tackling a not that well-known maritime incident, he takes us right into the cauldron of this major event of both United States and World History albeit looking at it from a myriad of different viewpoints in a sort of Rashomon-type retelling of the sinking of the Lusitania, the impetus for America's belated entry into the Great War.Taking place just three years after that other "night to remember" when
I've kind of missed the boat so far (har harrrr, oh come on, I couldn't resist) but this is the first book I've read by Erik Larson. And I only ended up reading it because it is the final pick of the season for my in-person book club. I put it off for a while but ended up breezing through, using the approach I take with most histories - read the bits carefully that I'm interested in and skim those I am not. Those I am not:-transcripts of military commands -Woodrow Wilson's depression and dating
Erik Larson makes history come alive once again. I'd known nothing about this subject, except having the misconception that the sinking of the Lusitania had immediately forced the US into WWI.One would think that when reviewing a history book, there would be no risk of spoilers, and yet--there are some surprising and shocking facts here that I will not give away. Larson's research is intense and encompassing, and he packages and delivers this fascinating account in a very readable form.Larson
This reminded me a lot of the movie Titantic not just because its about a disaster at sea, but also it would have been a lot shorter and better without the romantic subplot. Only in this case it was U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt instead of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Although I gotta admit that the scene when ole Woody sketched Edith in the nude was pretty hot..Wait. I might have mixed something up there.This is part of the continuing trend of Erik Larsons books
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