Highly recommended for history buffs, fans of top notch storytelling or anyone who likes to ponder the fateful moments of times gone by. A thoroughly compelling and wide ranging chronicle by one of the great practitioners of modern narrative history writing, Dead Wake is another successful outing by Erik Larson.
But the sinking of the Lusitania that you learned about in high school history probably wasn’t the entire story. 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.
It was 18 minutes that changed history, resulting in 1198 dead crew and civilians. At the same time, he dispels some of the myths that surround the sinking of the ship and its impact on the World War I. He presents the story from numerous perspectives, generating a particularly vivid and sympathetic picture of the ship’s captain, Commander William Thomas Turner. Nonetheless, by bringing in dozens of interesting characters, both ordinary folk and exceptional individuals, Larson manages to create plenty of dramatic tension and an entirely riveting account of the final tragedy. In the months prior to the Lusitania departure, German submarines had successfully. The Lusitania was the fastest ship liner at that time after setting a record for the fastest journey across the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1907. One of the major difficulties in history writing, particularly when the story ends in disaster, is that everybody knows the ending. Dead Wake is a nonfictional book that describes the events following the Lusitania’s final journey in the year 1915.
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