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Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

by Erik Larson
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

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ISBN13: 9780307408877
ISBN10: 0307408876
Condition: Standard


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Staff Top Fives 2015

Our favorite books of the year.


Staff Pick

An exploration of the sinking of the Lusitania, Dead Wake is so suspenseful and engaging that Larson actually had me hoping against history that the ship wouldn’t sink. Dramatic, fast-paced, and meticulously researched, Dead Wake will appeal to history lovers of all stripes. Recommended By Rhianna W., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania, published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the disaster.

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.

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, 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. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster that helped place America on the road to war.

Review

"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

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

Review

"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

Review

"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

Review

"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

Review

"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

Review

"[Larson] vividly captures the disaster and the ship's microcosm, in which the second class seems more appealing than the first." The New Yorker

Review

"An intriguing, entirely engrossing investigation into a legendary disaster." Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Review

"Factual and personal to a high degree, the narrative reads like a grade-A thriller." Booklist, starred review

Review

"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

Review

"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

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 fourteen countries.

Erik Larson on PowellsBooks.Blog

I've been a fan of Erik Larson's riveting brand of narrative history for years, and his latest book, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, is his finest work yet. Suspenseful and expertly researched, Dead Wake transports the reader to...

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4.5 2

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 4.5 (2 comments)

`
Jeffrey Bluhm , November 05, 2016 (view all comments by Jeffrey Bluhm)
Another superlative effort from Erik Larson. He consistently takes minor or neglected historical events and weaves the facts into stories that are as informative as they are suspenseful. The denouement of this tale is well-known and incontrovertible, but Larson still infuses the telling with drama and compelling human interest, both from the perspective of the Lusitania passengers as well as their U-boat stalkers. This book is as much a page-turner as any New York Times bestselling thriller - Larson makes history sing! Now back to waiting for the next wonderful work from his pen...

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`
Pin , March 29, 2016 (view all comments by Pin)
What an incredibly well written, thrilling account of the horrific experiences of those on the Lusitania, of some of those in the submarine, and of those along the coast and on ships/boats who tried to assist (spoiler alert) the sinking ship. The way Larson wrote it was not to point fingers at the usual suspects, but rather to show ways that could have prevented it all based on the words of the passengers et al., but for way too many prideful folks on all sides.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780307408877
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
03/22/2016
Publisher:
BANTAM DOUBLEDAY DELL
Pages:
480
Author:
Erik Larson
Media Run Time:
B

Ships free on qualified orders.
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$11.95
List Price:$18.00
Used Trade Paperback
Ships in 1 to 3 days
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More copies of this ISBN

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