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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.… (more)
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During WWI, the German navy was far smaller than the famous British equivalent, except that they had invested in U-Boats that could travel undetected and sink ships without being discovered. These early submarines were not the safest of environments, and their weapons were not entirely reliable. Still, they had a huge impact on naval warfare, leading to the end of large battles involving many ships. Instead, submarines patrolled the waters around harbors and shipping lanes, sinking merchant vessels carrying armaments and supplies. The problem came when British ships began flying the flags of neutral countries when moving through high-risk areas, and American ships began carrying armaments and other supplies.
The British were desperate for the US to join the war. Americans were just as determined to avoid Old World conflicts. Germany was angry about their ships being held in American ports. The Lusitania's planned voyage from New York to Liverpool in May, 1915 was a risky one, given that the Germans had posted warnings in the New York papers that directly mentioned her. But the travelers on board, as well as the crew, were confident that the ship's speed (much faster than that of any submarine) as well as the expectation of an escort of British destroyers as soon as the ship reached British waters, protected the ship from any potential harm.
The actual sinking of the Lusitania occurred only because of an unlikely conflux of events, not the least of which were confusing information sent to the ship, the British government's need for American involvement in the war, the weather, and the randomness of timing. Still, it was a disaster, with nearly 1,200 people dead as a result. The book's most interesting chapters naturally surrounded the events during and immediately after the ship was hit by a German torpedo. Despite the high number of dead, including many Americans, it would be another two years before the US entered WWI, but the sinking of the Lusitania did have a great affect on changing American attitudes towards that war.
Larson writes ably, and certainly researched the subject in an exhaustive manner. This sometimes resulted in a book that tried to pack too much in, with superfluous information about random passengers bogging down the narrative rather than enhancing the story. Still, this is a very readable and accessible book about an important event that is not well remembered. It was certainly worth the time it took to read and I enjoyed it.
With his latest work, ‘Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania’, Erik Larson has proven that
It is this great storyteller’s ability to take dry words from telegrams, court depositions and government reports and turn them into lenses that we can use to see, and even relive, the past that makes Larson one of the very few authors whose books I would preorder sight unseen. One scene towards the end was described in such poignant detail that it engaged all of my senses.
As President Woodrow Wilson drove to the Capitol to ask Congress for a declaration or war, “a spring rain fell, soft and fragrant; the streets gleamed from the ornate lamps along Pennsylvania Avenue. The dome of the Capitol was lit for the first time in the building’s history [and] stood in solemn splendor against the dark wet sky. Despite the rain, hundreds of men and women lines the avenue. They removed their hats and watched with somber expressions as the president passed slowly in his car, surrounded by soldiers on horseback, as clear a sign as any of what was to come.”
Larson’s other books, ‘The Devil in the White City’ and ‘Isaac’s Storm’; reside in a place of honor on my bookshelf. Now they will be joined by With ‘Dead Wake’. Now all that remains is to wonder what historic gem will spark his curiosity next.
*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
I was interested in the topic (for decades I’ve been interested in the Titanic) and knew I’d previously enjoyed books by this author so
I love this author’s writing style; his nonfiction books are great for readers who think they don’t enjoy nonfiction. I also appreciate how his nonfiction is 100% factual. For instance, what is in quotes was really said or written, and he does extensive research.
I recommend if reading this book going in as ignorant as possible and resisting urges to do research until after finishing the book – even looking up maps, deck plans, and definitely people provided spoilers I’d rather have done without. I still really enjoyed the book. Re the non-fiction, I’d read a lot outside that book that didn’t make it into the book. I suspect that information didn’t pass muster with the author. He writes at the end how there is a lot of misinformation out there about the Lusitania. But the map provided is not at all sufficient. I would have appreciated more maps and images, including photographs. I got those in the other two books I’ve read so far by this author. If all this had been included I wouldn't have felt such a strong urge to do further research outside the book and wouldn’t have found out more than I wanted to know. At 39% through the book I stopped looking up information and just read the rest of the book.
The book read quickly and easily and completely held my interest.
I appreciated that so much general history of the era was covered. I got a much better sense of historical figures as people (President Wilson, Winston Churchill, etc.) and enjoyed the cameos (Hitler and Captain Von Trapp, etc.); it did give me insight into the time and the Lusitania’s place within that time and place(s). However, by the end of the book I wasn’t completely satisfied by how it all worked. For some people/events it felt as though there was not enough and for others too much.
I did care a great deal about most of the people the reader gets to know. There was great suspense. I felt as though I got a good feel for how it must have felt to be involved. I liked all the details; it helped me understand everyone and everything. I was surprised at
I felt infuriated by this event, as there were so many ways it could have been prevented, and I think that there was plenty of blame to go around.
It’s a very sad story, but there is humor, and I didn’t find most of it depressing. One person who was depressed anyway, in a way I found those parts harder to read than reading about the actual tragedy. The kids were hard to read about, and because I got invested in the characters early on, I correctly guessed that it would be difficult to read about what happened after the ship was attacked.
The book proper goes through only page 359. That’s all I’ve read so far and all I’d planned to read, until darn it re the author, the last line of page 359 has me about to read the notes, or at least skim and read them. They go from pages 361-410. (Pages 411-418 is the index.)
For any reader interested in the Lusitania, this is the book I’d recommend, at least as the first book.
The subtitle is all the synopsis you need: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania.
As he did in Isaac’s Storm, Larson uses tidbits found in research materials from a variety of sources to flesh out a narrative tale of a great disaster. This time, the disaster is
Larson shifts perspective from the Lusitania, her passengers and crew, to U-20 (the German submarine that would successfully sink her), to Room 40 (the British intelligence office that had information that might have avoided the disaster if it had been properly shared. In this way the reader gets a much more complete picture of what was happening – and why – than the poor souls who lived (or died) through this tragedy. It’s a compelling story, which completely captured my interest despite my knowing how it would turn out.
Scott Brick does a good job reading the audiobook. His delivery is rather dry, but this is fine for a work of nonfiction. He was still able to lend a sense of the panic and distress of the passengers, Captain and crew of the Lusitania, though this is probably more attributable to Larson’s writing than to Brick’s performance.
Extended review:
Without realizing it at the time, I took this book out of the library on the one-hundredth anniversary of the sinking of RMS Lusitania. Reading of the events leading up to, during, and following this major marine
Larson's book bears comparison to Walter Lord's A Night to Remember, a narrative account of the loss of the Titanic just three years earlier. Both present a description of the ship, a sketch of key personnel and a selection of passengers, and a minute-by-minute account of the climactic events as they happened. Both bring an up-close-and-personal perspective to our comprehension of a tragedy that is very difficult to encompass on the large scale.
And, significantly, both of them catalogue a staggering list of if-only's, all the factors that had to happen just so in order for the disaster to occur, a minor variation in which--even by a matter of only a few seconds--might have averted the fatal outcome.
The crucial difference, of course, is that whereas the Titanic disaster came about as the result of a collision with an iceberg, with an ample helping of human error and hubris in the mix, the Lusitania was deliberately sunk by a German U-boat committing an act of war. And, as the text makes very clear, that act could have been prevented if a number of people possessed of critical information had taken the necessary steps. Accident, error, delay, miscalculation, design flaws, inattention, stupidity, coincidence, and many other everyday mishaps had their part to play; but worst of all was the conscious choice on the part of certain officials to leave the vessel unescorted and issue a vague, ambiguous warning about the presence of danger. Whatever rationale guided that course of action, nearly 1200 passengers and crew on a commercial ocean liner paid the price, along with their families, friends, and fellow countrymen.
Larson's telling sets a solid framework on both sides of the Atlantic, from an emotionally preoccupied American president to the high-stakes military operations of Britain and Germany. Personal effects and diaries of victims along with records of survivors and eyewitnesses bring the story home. A hundred years is not such a long time; it's much too soon to forget.
Larson does much more than set facts straight, however, he tells the story - of the passengers, the crew of the Lusitania (including poor maligned Captain Turner) and the U-boat which sank her, and the powers behind the disaster, including naval intelligence and President Wilson. Sharing the tragedy, if not the fame, of the Titanic three years earlier, over a thousand men, women and children lost their lives when the Lusitania was attacked off the coast of Ireland on 7 May 1915, and all because the Admiralty would not risk drawing attention to 'Room 40', the secret code-breaking team who knew ahead of the attack that Captain Schweiger and his U20 were lying in wait, but refused to send warning or assistance.
A dramatic, personal and educational account, well worth reading.
”The track lingered on the surface like a long pale scar. In maritime vernacular, this trail of fading disturbance, whether from ship or torpedo, was called a “dead wake.” . . . The smoothness of the sea presented some passenger with a
The Lusitania’s passenger list is not just dry facts; Larson fleshes out many of the passengers from the memories of survivors and from their own journals. He brings a bit of the story of President Wilson – his wife’s death, his subsequent courting of another, and his new marriage – into the history of WWI, and without saying so explicitly, how his personal life interfered with the country’s needs.
A crucial part of the story of the catastrophe was the work of Room 40 in England, a secret corner of British Naval Intelligence, where they would receive 20,000 intercepted U-boat messages during the war. They knew their paths, their quadrants, their codes, each commander, and his kills. They knew U-20 was directly in the path of the Lusitania, that it had already sunk 3 other ships that day, and that 23 other merchant vessels had been torpedoed and sunk by U-boats in the previous 7 days along that portion of the coast.
“… the question remains, why was the ship left on its own, with a proven killer of men and ships dead ahead in its path?”
A fascinating story of that piece of history, engagingly told.
Larson does include an epilogue concerning the survivors, which is welcome information. Although, it would have been interesting for him to also include some information about any attempts to explore or salvage the wreckage.
Overall, this was a thorough and factual historical text that was not tedious or tiresome to read. Recommended.
Looking back through history from a distance allows secret documents to be declassified, as well as physical evidence and key personalities to be exposed. Larson's surprising (at least to me) revelations of what he found pose some very important questions about international politics and how nations conduct themselves. One cannot ignore the price of war on all sides that is so vivid and heartbreaking. This book has it all.
The author made the voyage and disaster come alive by choosing a few individuals to focus on. We followed them through their entire journey. We see them board, learned their background and the reason why they were traveling. We knew who was waiting for them at home and then we watched the inevitable unfold.
We also learned about the Lusitania’s captain (Turner) and the captain of the U-boat that brought their destruction. Larson took us all the way through the sinking and into the aftermath. We learned who lived and died and what happened in the years that followed. Structuring the book this way put a few faces onto the historical event. It gave the book a depth of emotion that would have been missing if he’d only focused on factual details instead of personal details too. By the time we reach the critical moment you are so invested in the characters that you’ve met that the suspense is palpable.
In the opening chapters we’re introduced to Theodate Pope, a female architect and suffragette, Dwight Harris who carried both an engagement ring and custom life belt on board the ship. Then there was a Vanderbilt who had narrowly missed sailing on the Titanic. There was also a bookseller named Lauriat, carrying a priceless copy of A Christmas Carol that Dickens himself had owned!
A few interesting tidbits:
- Georg von Trapp (he of The Sound of Music fame) was an Austrian U-boat commander and torpedoed a French cruiser, killing 684 sailors!
- Captain Turner testified in the Titanic trial to determine who should receive compensation for their losses.
- There was a Confederate submarine during the Civil War and three crews were killed just trying to get it to work.
- During WWII the Russians managed to get three copies of the German code book and gave one of them to the British
BOTTOM LINE: Just fantastic. Some nonfiction authors have a hard time restraining themselves from telling readers EVERY single detail that they discovered about a subject. But the best ones leave you fascinated with the subject and even wanting to know more about it. Erik Larson is one of the best and this particular book was a great example of his skill combining with an enthralling story.
"When Death is as close as he was then, the sharp agony of fear is not there; the thing is too overwhelming and stunning for that." – One of the survivors.
*I received a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
For example, he
Those sorts of detail means nothing to the plot but everything to the story, and Larson has shown himself again as an expert in finding them.
The only drawback with this book is Larson's concern with bouncing the narrative back and forth between locations. While most of these scenes play a pivotal role in the story, some drag down the pacing, especially the U-Boat scenes. While they're all interesting, I couldn't help that a few of the U-Boat chapters could have been cut and their most salient points added to other chapters. (That's more a matter of opinion than real criticism, however. There are probably some readers who would want more of the U-Boat scenes and less of the political landscape, for example.)
If you know someone who loves history books in general, and war or sailing books in particular (or who just enjoys being exposed to great names: Theodaet Pope! Lothrop withington!) then Dead Wake would likely make an excellent addition to their library.
In the middle of World War I, the Lusitania, a British luxury ocean liner made its ill-fated voyage from New York City to waters near Ireland in 1915 despite warnings about German interference. On board were American, Irish and British citizens, including many children. It’s captain, Thomas Turner, confident in the ship’s speed and “gentlemanly strictures of warfare”, sailed on. A German U-boat silently tracked the ship. The rest is history.
Most of us think we know this story. After you read Dead Wake, you will learn secrets never before revealed. Larson’s book is a high-intensity page-turner, written not just as history, but also as mystery and several human-interest stories.
How did US President Woodrow Wilson’s personal life affect his reaction to the tragedy?
Was a conspiracy involved between Britain and Germany?
How long did it take for the United States to decide that the deaths of Americans on-board called for US involvement in the war?
Dead Wake is an important read, not just because of its content. Larson’s sensitive treatment of persons involved draws the reader into the emotion before and after the incident. The pace of the story is thrilling. Copious notes and references document the amount of research used for this book. Don’t miss this propulsive and compulsive contribution to World War I history. It comes highly recommended for all history and maritime lovers.
LibraryThing supplied the advance reader’s copy for my unbiased review.
Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont
The climactic scene all this leads up to, the one history tells us will certainly occur, still manages to take me by surprise. The detail Larson provides is both fascinating and horrifying.
I need to emphasize that, while Larson provides incredible detail, we are not weighed down by facts. This story is woven together so that it never feels like a history lesson.
If you aren't familiar with the Lusitania and how the ship relates to US involvement with WWI, then you'll likely be astounded by what you learn here. And if you think you do know the story, you might be shocked by all you were never told.
We all know what happened 100 years ago, so this is not a mystery book. This is more than just the story of the sinking of the Lusitania, so it is not just a dry historical book. This book was extremely well-researched and provides deep background on the crew
As always, he is careful to present all sides of the event, showing up the ideas that are believed, yet false.
Coming through clearly is how those who steer a country in time of war consider objectives more important that the lives that will be lost. The British Admiralty clearly considered keeping the secret of their ability to monitor German transmissions more important than keeping over a thousand civilians safe. One wonders what they were saving the information for.
Dead Wake is an excellent read.
What it is like inside a submarine,
There is only one Larson book I was not crazy about, that one remains half finished, but this is an author whose books I buy to reread and savor. By the end of the book, I had a clear and concise picture of so many things I had never knew before. Also had gotten to know some of the people on the ship and was devastated that some of them were the ones who died. A horrible tragedy bought to life, to be remembered and learned from, if only. Amazing.