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The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era
by Gareth Russell
In this original and meticulously researched narrative history, the author of the "stunning" (The Sunday Times) Young and Damned and Fair uses the sinking of the Titanic as a prism through which to examine the end of the Edwardian era and the seismic shift modernity brought to the Anglo-American world.
In April 1912, six notable people were among those privileged to experience the height of luxury—first class passage on "the ship of dreams," the RMs Titanic: Lucy Leslie, Countess of Rothes; son of the British Empire, Tommy Andrews; American captain of industry John Thayer and his son Jack; Jewish-American immigrant Ida Straus; and American model and movie star Dorothy Gibson. Within a week of setting sail, they were all caught up in the horrifying disaster of the Titanic's sinking, one of the biggest news stories of the century. Today, we can see their stories and the Titanic's voyage as the beginning of the end of the established hierarchy of the Edwardian era.
Writing in his elegant signature prose and using previously unpublished sources, deck plans, journal entries, and surviving artifacts, Gareth Russell peers through the portholes of these first-class travelers to immerse us in a time of unprecedented change in British and American history. Through their intertwining lives, he examines social, technological, political, and economic forces such as the nuances of the British class system, the explosion of competition in the shipping trade, the birth of the movie industry, the Irish Home Rule Crisis, and the Jewish-American immigrant experience while also recounting their intimate stories of bravery, tragedy, and selflessness.
Masterful in its superb grasp of the forces of history, gripping in its moment-by-moment account of the sinking, revelatory in discounting long-held myths, and lavishly illustrated with color and black and white photographs, this absorbing, accessible, and authoritative account of the Titanic's life and death is destined to become the definitive book on the subject.
"Russell adroitly sketches the backgrounds of his main characters as he tracks their movements during the fateful trip, drawing from hundreds of sources...[A] scrupulous and entertaining portrait of 'a world that was by turns victim and author of the tragedies that overtook it.'" - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Vivid, thrilling...an extraordinary story of human courage." - Times Literary Supplement (UK)
"With the Titanic story exhaustively explored ever since, is there anything left to learn? On the evidence of Gareth Russell's engrossing book, the answer is yes....This masterly reconstruction renders the Titanic story vital again." - Mail on Sunday (UK)
"Fascinating...Gareth Russell tells us the popular appeal of the Titanic outstrips that of every ship since Noah's ark. In his hands you can understand why....sharp and witty...packed with interesting details." - The Times (UK)
This information about The Ship of Dreams was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Educated at Oxford University and Queens University, Belfast, Gareth Russell is a historian, novelist, and playwright. He is the author of The Ship of Dreams, Young and Damned and Fair, The Emperor, and An Illustrated Introduction to the Tudors. He lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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