RMS Titanic in 50 Objects

by Bruce Beveridge, Steve Hall, Cathy Akers-Jordan (Foreword)

On 15 April 1912, passengers stood on a dimly lit Boat Deck, looking down at the lifeboats they were told to enter. In the freezing air, away from the warmth of the interior, they had to decide whether to enter a boat that would be lowered into darkness or remain on an 'unsinkable' ship.

RMS Titanic in 50 Objects is a look at the world-famous liner through the objects that tell her story. Sheet music recovered from the body of a musician, a full-sized replica of her First Class Entrance Hall clock, a lifeboat from a fellow White Star Line ship – all of these objects and more come together to tell not only the tragedy of the ship herself, but also that of her passengers and crew. Lavishly illustrated and extensively researched by two of the world's most foremost Titanic experts, this is her history brought to life like never before.**

Genres: Nonfiction

316 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 29, 2022

Reviews

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Advertisements, blueprints, tools, screws, spa tiles, uniform hats, deck chairs, light fixtures, lifeboats and lots and lots of photographs of the crew fill this book of all the stuff and staff that filled this luxurious ocean liner.

This book does an excellent job getting into the technicals and logistics of the building and running of Titanic, as well as showing just how Edwardian the interior decoration was with its emphasis on turn-of-the-century maximalism.

Tellingly, the book becomes heavier on text once it gets to the actual sinking, reproducing the text of all the frantic morse code sent out as she sank, and then we get photographs of the lifeboats and Calparthia, followed by pictures of the surviving letters, memos and reports from those who investigated how this could have happened.

There's very little on the passengers, but we get an excellent picture of what he ship would have been like that fateful morning when she was at the dock, ready to go, newly finished and freshly furnished.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pictures of actual Titanic artifacts and their stories were fascinating. However, I am a purist and I don't think the book should claim 50 objects of Titanic when most came from the Olympic and one from the 1997 movie.

[Carol-Ann Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at a very famous subject from a new angle

[Dann · Rating 3 out of 5]

RMS Titanic in 50 Objects is a creative telling of the illustrious history of this tragic luxury liner. As the title suggests, authors Bruce Beveridge and Steve Hall use 50 objects (with varying degrees of connect to the Titanic) to chronical the ship’s construction, maiden voyage and sinking, and the legacy that it left. Due to the controversy over the recovered artifacts from the wreck site, most of the objects are not directly tied to the actual Titanic but are rather from other White Star ships of the era, replicas, or the personal effects of survivors (which kind of feels like a cheat at times). As a result the writing meanders at times and is a bit contrived in how it uses the objects to segue into the discussion topics and relating them to the larger narrative. However, the book’s unique structure allows Beveridge and Hall to use some rather unusual objects and include some interesting trivia and little known facts that aren’t often talked about in Titanic retrospectives. While RMS Titanic in 50 Objects takes a fresh and creative approach to the material, it’s not always successful and be a little rote and even a bit confusing in parts.