Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Random House Large Print), by Erik Larson
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Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Random House Large Print), by Erik Larson
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#1 New York Times BestsellerFrom the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the LusitaniaOn May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, 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 surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era’s great transatlantic “Greyhounds”—the fastest liner then in service—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. 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 and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow 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 whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history.From the Hardcover edition.
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Random House Large Print), by Erik Larson - Amazon Sales Rank: #135619 in Books
- Brand: Larson, Erik
- Published on: 2015-03-10
- Released on: 2015-03-10
- Format: Large Print
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.20" h x 1.40" w x 6.10" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 672 pages
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Random House Large Print), by Erik Larson Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of the Month for March 2015: On May 1st, 1915 the Lusitania set sail on its final voyage. That it was sunk by a German U-boat will be news to few—and Larson’s challenge is to craft a historical narrative leading up to the thrilling, if known, conclusion, building anticipation in his readers along the way. To his credit, he makes the task look easy. Focusing on the politics of WWI, on nautical craftsmanship and strategy, and on key players in the eventual attack and sinking of the “fast, comfortable, and beloved” Lusitania, Larson once again illustrates his gift for seducing us with history and giving it a human face. Dead Wake puts readers right aboard the famous Cunard liner and keeps them turning the pages until the book’s final, breathless encounter. – Chris Schluep
Review
A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2015A St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Book of 2015A Miami Herald Favorite Book of 2015BookTrib's Best Narrative Nonfiction Book of 2015#1 History & Biography Book in the 2015 Goodreads Choice AwardsA LibraryReads Top Ten Book of 2015 A Library Journal Top Ten Book of 2015 A Kirkus Best Book of 2015 An Indigo Best Book of 2015 "Larson is one of the modern masters of popular narrative nonfiction...a resourceful reporter and a subtle stylist who understands the tricky art of Edward Scissorhands-ing narrative strands into a pleasing story...An entertaining book about a great subject, and it will do much to make this seismic event resonate for new generations of readers."—The New York Times Book Review"Larson is an old hand at treating nonfiction like high drama...He knows how to pick details that have maximum soapy potential and then churn them down until they foam [and] has an eye for haunting, unexploited detail."—The New York Times"In his gripping new examination of the last days of what was then the fastest cruise ship in the world, Larson brings the past stingingly alive...He draws upon telegrams, war logs, love letters, and survivor depositions to provide the intriguing details, things I didn't know I wanted to know...Thrilling, dramatic and powerful."—NPR"Larson is a journalist who writes non-fiction books that read like novels, real page-turners. This one is no exception. I had known a lot about the Titanic but little about the Lusitania. This filled in those gaps... this one is pretty damned good. Thoroughly engrossing."—George R.R. Martin"This enthralling and richly detailed account demonstrates that there was far more going on beneath the surface than is generally known...Larson's account [of the Lusitania's sinking] is the most lucid and suspenseful yet written, and he finds genuine emotional power in the unlucky confluences of forces, 'large and achingly small,' that set the stage for the ship's agonizing final moments."—The Washington Post"Utterly engrossing...Expertly ratcheting up the tension...Larson puts us on board with these people; it's page-turning history, breathing with life." —The Seattle Times"Larson has a gift for transforming historical re-creations into popular recreations, and Dead Wake is no exception...[He] provides first-rate suspense, a remarkable achievement given that we already know how this is going to turn out...The tension, in the reader's easy chair, is unbearable..."—The Boston Globe
"Both terrifying and enthralling. As the two vessels stumble upon each other, the story almost takes on the narrative pulse of Jaws—the sinking was impossible and inevitable at the same time. At no point do you root for the shark, but Larson's incredible detail pulls you under and never lets you go."—Entertainment Weekly"Erik Larson [has] made a career out of turning history into best sellers that read as urgently as thrillers...A meticulous master of non-fiction suspense."—USA Today"[Larson] vividly captures the disaster and the ship's microcosm, in which the second class seems more appealing than the first."—The New Yorker"[Larson is] a superb storyteller and a relentless research hound..."—Lev Grossman, TIME“[Larson] proves his mettle again as a weaver of tales of naïveté, calumny and intrigue. He engagingly sketches life aboard the liner and amply describes the powers’ political situations… The panorama Mr. Larson surveys is impressive, as is the breadth of his research and the length of his bibliography. He can’t miss engaging readers with the curious cast of characters, this ship of fools, and his accounting of the sinking itself and the survivors’ ordeals are the stuff of nightmares.” —Washington Times"Readers looking for a swift, emotionally engaging account of one of history's great sea disasters will find Dead Wake grimly exhilarating. Larson is an exceptionally skilled storyteller, and his tick-tock narrative, which cuts between the Lusitania, U-20 and the political powers behind them, is pitch-perfect."—The Richmond Times-Dispatch "Larson so brilliantly elucidates [the Lusitania's fate] in Dead Wake, his detailed forensic and utterly engrossing account of the Lusitania's last voyage...Yes, we know how the story of the Lusitania ends, but there's still plenty of white-knuckle tension. In Dead Wake, he delivers such a marvelously thorough investigation of the ship's last week that it practically begs Hollywood blockbuster treatment."—The Toronto Globe & Mail"Larson's nimble, exquisitely researched tale puts you dead center...Larson deftly pulls off the near-magical feat of taking a foregone conclusion and conjuring a tale that's suspenseful, moving and altogether riveting."—Dallas Morning News"With each revelation from Britain and America, with each tense, claustrophobic scene aboard U-20, the German sub that torpedoed the ship, with each vignette from the Lusitania, Larson's well-paced narrative ratchets the suspense. His eye for the ironic detail keen, his sense of this time period perceptive, Larson spins a sweeping tale that gives the Lusitania its due attention. His book may well send Leonardo DiCaprio chasing its film rights."—San Francisco Chronicle"An expertly crafted tale of individual and corporate hubris, governmental intrigue and cover-up, highlighting a stunning series of conincidences and miscalculations that ultimately placed the Lusitania in the direct path of the catastrophic strike...[Larson's] pacing is impeccable."—The Miami Herald"[Larson] has a gift for finding the small, personal details that bring history to life...His depiction of the sinking of the ship, and the horrific 18 minutes between the time it was hit and the time it disappeared, is masterly, moving between strange, touching details."—Columbus Dispatch"In the hands of a lesser craftsman, the fascinating story of the last crossing of the Lusitania might risk being bogged down by dull character portraits, painstaking technical analyses of submarine tactics or the minutiae of WWI-era global politics. Not so with Erik Larson...Larson wrestles these disparate narratives into a unified, coherent story and so creates a riveting account of the Lusitania's ending and the beginnings of the U.S.'s involvement in the war."—Pittsburgh Post Gazette"In your mind, the sinking of the luxury liner Lusitania may be filed in a cubbyhole...After reading Erik Larson's impressive reconstruction of the Lusitania's demise, you're going to need a much bigger cubbyhole...Larson's book is a work of carefully sourced nonfiction, not a novelization, but it has a narrative sweep and miniseries pacing that make it highly entertaining as well as informative."—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"Larson breathes life into narrative history like few writers working today."—Minneapolis Star Tribune"Now the tragic footnote to a global conflagration, the history of the [Lusitania's] final voyage... is worthy of the pathos and narrative artistry Erik Larson brings to Dead Wake...Reader's of Larson's previous nonfiction page turners...will not be disappointed. He's an excellent scene setter and diligent researcher who tells the story with finesse and suspense."—Newsday"The story of the Lusitania's sinking by a German U-boat has been told before, but Larson's version features new details and the gripping immediacy he's famous for."—People"We can't wait for the James Cameron version of Erik Larson's Dead Wake."—New York Magazine"Larson...long ago mastered the art of finding overlooked and faded curiosities and converting them into page-turning popular histories. Here, again, he manages the same trick."—Christian Science Monitor"Fans of Erik Larson's narrative nonfiction have trusted that whatever tale he chooses to tell, they'll find it compelling. Dead Wake proves them right...History at its harrowing best." —New York Daily News"A quickly paced, imminently readable exploration of an old story you may only half-know."—Arkansas Democratic Gazette "We all know how the story ends, but Larson still makes you want to turn the pages, and turn them quickly. What makes the story, is that Larson takes a few main characters--the Lusitania's Captain William Thomas Turner, President Woodrow Wilson, U-boat Captain Walther Schweiger, Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat, architect Theodate Pope, and a few minor ones--and weaves them together towards the inevitable and tragic conclusion. Larson has done his research. The number of details and anecdotes that he has managed to cobble together are fascinating in themselves."—Foreign Policy
"Larson turns this familiar tale into a finely written elegy on the contingency of war."—Maclean's Magazine“Larson is a master storyteller and quickens the pace as target and attackers hurtle toward their inevitable, deadly rendezvous. The suspense builds because readers care about his fully-formed characters, and it’s not always clear who will live and who will die.”—Salon"Because Larson has such a sense of story, when he gets to the tragedy itself, the book hums along in vivid form. You feel, viscerally, what it's like to be on a sinking ship, and the weight of life lost that day. The fact that this is coming through a page-turner history book, where all the figures and details reveal an impeccable eye and thorough research, is just one of the odd pleasures of Larson's writing."—Flavorwire“[Larson] thrillingly chronicles the liner’s last voyage... He draws upon a wealth of sources for his subject – telegrams, wireless messages, survivor depositions, secret intelligence ledgers, a submarine captain’s war log, love letters, admiralty and university archives, even morgue photos of Lusitania victims… Filled with revealing political, military and social information, Larson’s engrossing Dead Wake is, at its heart, a benediction for the 1,198 souls lost at sea.”—Tampa Bay Times"Larson, an authority on nonfiction accounts, expounds on our primary education, putting faces to the disaster and crafting an intimate portrait in Dead Wake. A lover of history will get so close to the story...that it is hard not to feel as if you are on board with new friends..."—Fort Worth Star-Telegram"In a well-paced narrative, Larson reveals the forces large and small, natural and man-made, coincidental and intentional, that propelled the Lusitania to its fatal rendezvous...Larson's description of the moments and hours that followed the torpedo's explosive impact is riveting...Dead Wake stands on its own as a gripping recounting of an episode that still has the power to haunt a reader 100 years later."—Buffalo News"Larson, who was once described as "an historian with a novelist's soul," has written a book which combines the absorbing tenor of fiction with the realities of history."—The Toronto Sun"[Larson] shows that narrative history can let us have it both ways: great drama wedded to rigorous knowledge. The German torpedoing of the great ship 100 years ago was almost as deadly as the Titanic sinking, and far more world-changing. Larson makes it feel as immediate and contingent as the present day."—NY Mag's Vulture.com"The bestselling author of The Devil in the White City and Thunderstruck puts his mastery of penning parallel narratives on display as he tells the tale of the sinking of the Lusitania by a German submarine, building an ever-growing sense of dread as the two vessels draw closer to their lethal meeting...He goes well beyond what's taught in history classes to offer insights into British intelligence and the dealings that kept the ship from having the military escort so many passengers expected to protect it...By piecing together how politics, economics, technology, and even the weather combined to produce an event that seemed both unlikely and inevitable, he offers a fresh look at a world-shaking disaster."—The Onion A/V Club"An intriguing, entirely engrossing investigation into a legendary disaster."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review"Factual and personal to a high degree, the narrative reads like a grade-A thriller."—Booklist, starred review"[Larson] has always shown a brilliant ability to unearth the telling details of a story and has the narrative chops to bring a historical moment vividly alive. But in his new book, Larson simply outdoes himself...What is most compelling about Dead Wake is that, through astonishing research, Larson gives us a strong sense of the individuals—passengers and crew—aboard the Lusitania, heightening our sense of anxiety as we realize that some of the people we have come to know will go down with the ship. A story full of ironies and 'what-ifs,' Dead Wake is a tour de force of narrative history."—BookPage, Top Pick"With a narrative as smooth as the titular passenger liner, Larson delivers a riveting account of one of the most tragic events of WWI...A blunt reminder that war is, at its most basic, a matter of life and death."—Publishers Weekly"Once again, Larson transforms a complex event into a thrilling human interest story. This suspenseful account will entice readers of military and maritime history along with lovers of popular history."—Library Journal"Critically acclaimed 'master of narrative nonfiction' Erik Larson has produced a thrilling account of the principals and the times surrounding this tumultuous event in world history...After an intimate look at the passengers, and soon-to-be victims, who board in New York despite the warning of 'unrestricted warfare' from the German embassy, Larson turns up the pace with shorter and shorter chapters alternating between the hunted and the hunter until the actual shot. All in all a significant story. Well told."—Florida Times-Union"...the tension mounts page by page and the reading of Dead Wake becomes a very cinematic experience." —Summit Daily
From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author Erik Larson is the author of four national bestsellers: In the Garden of Beasts, Thunderstruck, The Devil in the White City, and Isaac's Storm, which have collectively sold more than 5.5 million copies. His books have been published in seventeen countries.
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Most helpful customer reviews
403 of 421 people found the following review helpful. The Mystery of Room 40 and the Sinking of Humanity By IsolaBlue Erik Larson is not capable of writing anything less than a gripping account of history. All of his previous books have been spellbinding accounts of storms, cities, crimes, inventions, ships and/or war. In DEAD WAKE: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, Larson returns to the subjects of war and ships and stirs in a potent mixture of international politics as well as a little romance to once again seduce his readers with a contemporary view of an historical situation.Written to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, a Cunard passenger liner sunk by a German U-Boat, Larson's account differs in several ways from other well-known books produced on the subject. Diana Preston's LUSITANIA: An Epic Tragedy, published in 2002, is one of the best-written accounts of the disaster. The difference between Preston's work and Larson's might be found in the subtitle of the Larson book which emphasizes the crossing while Preston's book is most memorable for its account of the sinking and its aftermath, particularly accounts of survival. No one can read Preston's book without feeling as if he/she is clinging to a piece of wreckage in a cold, spring sea awaiting rescue. No one can read Larson's book and not feel like the proverbial fly on the wall in the infamous Room 40 of the British Admiralty. While Preston addressed Room 40, in Larson's writing, the room takes on a role and becomes a character (albeit not a very appealing one) in its own right.Larson skillfully gets into the mindset of Winston Churchill and how determined he was to see America enter the war. In the States, Larson goes back in time and brings President Woodrow Wilson to life through a love affair that seemed to take up more of his time than thinking about the suitability of America's neutrality. Yet Larson allows readers to see Wilson in a most human light; perhaps the love affair gave him the strength for the decisions he had to make later. While the reader feels a connection with Wilson and also with the much-maligned but ultimately blameless Captain of the Lusitania, Captain Turner, utter horror and strong dislike is brought out when we read about Captain Schwieger of U-Boat 20 and, in a strange way, perhaps even more when we examine the real-life characters and goings-on within the Admiralty's Room 40. Germany and Britain both emerge as more than a bit despicable.The pluses of Larson's latest work are his acute examination of Room 40, his up-close look at Woodrow Wilson, and his ability to swing between the behind-the-scenes action and balance his discoveries with a conventional but absorbing look at some of the passengers on board the Lusitania all while building a true and terrifying suspense in the narrative. His profile of Charles Lauriat, Boston bookseller and collector of rare documents and drawings, is excellent. One senses that Larson was truly interested in Lauriat and might, having not been faced with producing a book to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Lusitania's sinking, have chosen Lauriat as a sole subject for a book or article.Erik Larson can never disappoint. Whether one reads a great deal about WWI history, maritime disasters, or early 1900s international politics, there is something new to be learned in DEAD WAKE. For those who have read very little about the Lusitania, this book is an excellent starting point. As mentioned before, Diana Preston's LUSITANIA: An Epic Tragedy tells a similar story but with a slightly different approach. Both books have something to offer, but Larson's, being newer, may include some fresh revelations about the history we thought we knew.
227 of 248 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Narrative of Terrible Attack By Bassocantor DEAD WAKE: THE LAST CROSSING OF THE LUSITANIA is the story of a horrific event that ended the lives of over 1,000 people. The sinking also played a key role in changing America’s view toward Germany, and helped change America’s “neutral” position in World War I. It was two years after this sinking that the United States declared war on Germany.Recall that at this time America was not yet in the war against Germany; America was neutral. Over in England, Churchill hoped this would change: “For our part, we want the traffic--the more the better; and if some of it gets into trouble, better still.” Britain had hopes that somehow, the U.S would "feel moved to join the Allies, and in so doing tip the balance irrevocably in their favor.”The Lusitania was a gigantic ship. To give you an idea of the size of the ship, there were 192 furnaces on board powering the gigantic turbines. Just to keep the ship running, there were a hundred stokers working each shift, shoveling a thousand tons of coal a day.At the helm of the ship was the experienced Captain Turner. The author notes that the captain was “the most seasoned captain at Canard Lines--the Commodore of the line. He had confronted all manner of shipboard crises, including mechanical mishaps, fires, cracked furnaces, open sea rescues, and extreme weather of all kinds. He was said to be fearless.“To set the stage for the U-boat attack, the author gives a background on submarine warfare: “The submarine as a weapon had come a long way by this time, certainly to the point where it killed its own crews only rarely.” Life aboard a German U-boat was not very comfortable--hot, humid, and cramped: “When deep underwater the boat developed an interior atmospheric like unto that of a tropical swamp...caused by the heat generated by the men and by the still hot diesel engines.“After the torpedo strike, the danger wasn't at first obvious to all passengers; the ship was so huge that some passengers thought it was nothing. One passenger recalled thinking, “Well, that wasn't so bad. “ On the other hand those near the bridge could sense the danger: “Those closest to the bridge felt the impact in a matter more vivid and tactile. “After the attack, families panicked; few knew what to do or where to go. There were many families on board with lots of children, and they were spread throughout the huge ship. When the lights went off, panic settled in. Passengers didn't know where their families were--they didn't know where their spouses were.Up on the bridge, the captain was giving orders to try to maneuver the ship so that the lifeboats could be launched. The lifeboats could not be lowered until the ship's momentum stopped. Plus, the ship's tilting was making deployment of the lifeboats nearly impossible.Even though the lifeboats could not be launched, passengers desperately began to try to get on board: “The first attempts to launch the Lusitania lifeboats revealed the true degree of danger now facing the ship’s passengers.” Passengers began jumping in the boats, even though they couldn’t be lowered yet. One businessman even took out a pistol and forced a sailor to begin lowering the lifeboat. With the boats not safe for deployment, some passengers fell out of the boats the long ways into the ocean.Ironically, prior to being attacked, Captain Turner had actually ordered lifeboats to be prepared in case of an emergency. “Turner was being prudent. If an emergency were to occur, the boats could be launched from this position more quickly, and with less hazard, than if they were still locked in there deep see positions.“All in all, DEAD WAKE is a horrifying story, full of grief and tragedy. The accounts of families struggling to survive after the attack are heart-breaking. Erik Larson does an excellent job at painting this terrible picture, as well as explaining the events surrounding WWI. This book is well-researched and supported by extensive references, providing sources for the main portion of the book.Advance copy provided for impartial review
96 of 108 people found the following review helpful. A good story about a known turning point in history; almost as good as his past books By outwest In Dead Wake, as in past books, Larson touches on the surreal and unlikely intersections that often arise in some of the biggest turning points in history. Larson's narrative story centers on the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner whose sinking by a German submarine provided Britain with a propaganda opportunity and shifted public opinion in the United States against Germany, which played a part in influencing America's eventual declaration of war.Larson's book narrates the story from divergent perspectives, including those of U-boot-20 and its captain Walther Schwieger, the crew and passengers aboard the luxury transatlantic liner the Lusitania, and the political buildup to World War I. A work of narrative nonfiction, it draws from historical records, letters, and journal entries to tell the story all during a time when Germany, France, and England were are already locked in combat while America remained neutral. The continuing tension between the naivete of the passengers of the luxury liner, the pacifism of the Americans who underestimated the German threat, the failures of British intelligence, and the patient stalking of the U-boat build throughout Larson's book, make for a compelling story.That said, this book does not quite live up to the greatness of In the Garden of Beasts and Devil in the White City, which both felt more like the author unearthed a story that had not yet been explored. The Lusitania story is one that has been much discussed in the past, and thus the book misses the fresh feel of those other ones.Anyone with a casual interest in history will likely enjoy this book, but those who hold Larson to the high standards of his prior works may not be quite as impressed.
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Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Random House Large Print), by Erik Larson
