Lusitania

February 23, 2015
The sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 has long existed in the shadow of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic. To give the Lusitania its due, King and Wilson flesh out the history of the ship's last voyage and the people who were a part of it. The account brims with rich detail about the ship itself, from the 200 miles of electric wiring that ran through it to the three barrels of live turtles that chefs brought on board. Though initially the book feels like a series of short biographies of the wealthy passengers, the excesses and dramas of these figures are quickly forgotten when the German U-Boat U-20 successfully torpedoes the Lusitania. King and Wilson excel at capturing the horrors of the event: lifebelts stolen from cabins, rickety lifeboats plunging into the ocean, passengers in the water getting sucked under by the sinking ship or having their eyes plucked out by seagulls. The ship was gone in 18 minutes, but questions still linger, with blame to be shared by the British Admiralty, Captain Turner, the Lusitania's cruise line, and of course, the U-Boat that fired the torpedo. This is a solid, fascinating account of a ship, its passengers, and its terrible fate.

December 1, 2014
On the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, King and Wilson (The Resurrection of the Romanovs: Anastasia, Anna Anderson, and the World's Greatest Royal Mystery, 2010) dig for clues to unanswered questions.The details surrounding how the elusive information disappeared uncover guilt on all sides. The British Admiralty had to protect the fact that they were transporting contraband in a ship sailing without a flag. The local coroner's inquest, the British Board of Trade's hearing and a U.S. District Court all dismissed charges of negligence. The admiralty never sent escort to protect the Lusitania as she entered British waters, and the captain acted contrary to orders. Even the journal of the U-boat captain has been altered. Did he fire one or two torpedoes? The German government published a warning as the Lusitania was about to sail from New York, proclaiming that ships misusing neutral flags found in British waters would be subject to destruction. Prior to this statement, the "Cruiser Rules" codified by The Hague in 1899 required enemy ships to give warning, demand a search for contraband and allow the ship to be abandoned before sinking it. In January 1915, England ordered her merchant vessels to sail under false flags and carry munitions, knowing Germany would respond in kind. First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill referred to the Lusitania as "live bait," hoping to draw the Americans into the war. The ship was the last of the great Edwardian ships, as her upper-class passengers showed, some of whom had actually been warned by Germans not to sail. The authors devote inordinate portions of the text to biographies of passengers and still more to the lives of the survivors, but their exploration of the facts surrounding the mystery is the primary pleasure of the book. Those who relish tales of the rich and famous will appreciate this book, but the real joy is in the authors' detective work and attention to detail.

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February 1, 2015

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, King (The Assassination of the Archduke) and Wilson (The Resurrection of the Romanovs) unite to detail the events leading up to the harrowing, fateful day of May 7, 1915. The authors tell the grim tale of the titular doomed passenger liner, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the early stages of World War I. The ship sank within 18 minutes; sending nearly 1,200 people of all ages, nationalities, and social classes to terrible deaths in the Irish Sea and setting off a political firestorm that would eventually culminate in the United States joining the war. Undoubtedly, with Walter Lord's A Night To Remember serving as inspiration, King and Wilson spend much of this work in a breathless rush from one "saloon class" passenger to another. (Second- and third-class passengers are largely omitted owing to lack of source material.) The result is a somewhat shallow read; the authors might have been better off letting readers become more intimately acquainted with slightly fewer passengers. VERDICT Still, those curious about the aftermath of the Titanic disaster as well as maritime, military, or general history should be intrigued by the offering.--Laura Marcus, Odenton, MD

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2015
Unlike the fate of the Titanic, sunk three years earlier when it crashed into an iceberg, the deliberate sinking of the Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915 has been shrouded in mystery and intrigue that continue even as the 100th anniversary of the tragedy approaches. Was the British ocean liner carrying munitions that exploded after it was torpedoed? Was it part of a deliberate plot by the British government to lure the U.S. into WWI? King and Wilson go beyond the military significance of the tragedy to explore the lives of the passengers who sailed on the ill-fated luxury liner. Among them were socialites, industrialists, opportunists, actresses, suffragettes. Some were traveling for business, some for pleasure, some to aid the war effort in Europe. Many had heard of the German warning that the Lusitania and all British ships were targets, but the speed of the ship and the presence of American citizens created a sense of invincibility. The ship sank in 18 minutes, killing 1,198 passengers and crew. More than a chronicle of the tragedy, this offers a penetrating look at the end of the Edwardian era.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)