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Gripping account of the last night of the Titanic's maiden voyage, reconstructed from official reports, news articles, and interviews with survivors. Lord's blow-by-blow account begins late on the night of April 14, 1912, just moments before the ship struck an iceberg in the freezing waters of the Atlantic, opening a gash in the hull. Lord can't put us on the bridge at the fateful moment (the captain, of course, didn't survive), but by utilizing the words and testimony of survivors, he is able to take us all over the rest of the ship (and, later, into the lifeboats), revealing the degree to which human nature is a strange and varied thing, a spectrum from the laudable to the contemptible -- with a bit of whimsy on the side. This is a short book, barely over a hundred pages, with an enormous "cast" that can make things confusing at times, but Lord does an admirable job of pulling it all together, mixing technical detail with human reaction to create an exciting and intensely dramatic story. All while leaving room for a few pages of social commentary and the intriguing story of J. Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director of the White Star Line, of which the Titanic and its sister ship the Olympic were the crown jewels, who, we learn, rarely spoke and became something of a recluse following his rescue. If you've never been particularly interested in the story of the Titanic, this book -- which is, in a way, the story of all of us -- might just change your mind. Made into a film in 1958.
Gripping account of the last night of the Titanic's maiden voyage, reconstructed from official reports, news articles, and interviews with survivors. Lord's blow-by-blow account begins late on the night of April 14, 1912, just moments before the ship struck an iceberg in the freezing waters of the Atlantic, opening a gash in the hull. Lord can't put us on the bridge at the fateful moment (the captain, of course, didn't survive), but by utilizing the words and testimony of survivors, he is able to take us all over the rest of the ship (and, later, into the lifeboats), revealing the degree to which human nature is a strange and varied thing, a spectrum from the laudable to the contemptible -- with a bit of whimsy on the side. This is a short book, barely over a hundred pages, with an enormous "cast" that can make things confusing at times, but Lord does an admirable job of pulling it all together, mixing technical detail with human reaction to create an exciting and intensely dramatic story. All while leaving room for a few pages of social commentary and the intriguing story of J. Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director of the White Star Line, of which the Titanic and its sister ship the Olympic were the crown jewels, who, we learn, rarely spoke and became something of a recluse following his rescue. If you've never been particularly interested in the story of the Titanic, this book -- which is, in a way, the story of all of us -- might just change your mind. Made into a film in 1958.
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