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Lusitania: An Illustrated Biography
It is now just over a century since Lusitania made her maiden crossing of the North Atlantic. For seven and a half years, she crossed that rugged ocean with punctuality and dependability. She fast became a living legend, the ship of choice for many of the transatlantic travellers. Since her sinking on 7 May 1915, however, her wondrous career and technological marvels have largely been neglected. Instead, the focus has shifted to her political importance, and on numerous conspiracy theories about her last voyage and sinking. This illustrated biography of the Lusitania discusses her entire story, from her conception and birth on the Clyde to her career and, finally, to her tragic demise off the coast of Ireland; it reveals her as she has never been seen before. Prepare to take a journey back in time - step aboard the decks of one of the world's largest, finest, fastest and most beloved ocean liners, and relive her history in all its splendour.
- GenresHistory
424 pages, Hardcover
First published March 2, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 26, 2015
Lusitania has her own place in transatlantic ocean liners history and is absolutely staggering and profusely accomplished. With an outstanding carreer and a tragic end, she the star of Cunard -along with her sister Mauritania- has nothing to be jealous of from other liners of her era.
Well this book, succeeds in describing every single characteristic, defuses some conspiracy theories about her demise and delineates any historic event in vast and full detail.
Generally easy to read and with a nice flow, the writing is great and very informative, with extensive
passages about everything regarding the ship. I would recommend it to evey maritime enthusiast.
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BOOK
- A full encyclopedia of the ship.
- Gorgeous photos of great detail.
- The new edition has a few new parts.
- Full passenger and crew lists.
- There is also a list of the voyages and crossings she made.
ARC provided via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. Thank you!
Well this book, succeeds in describing every single characteristic, defuses some conspiracy theories about her demise and delineates any historic event in vast and full detail.
Generally easy to read and with a nice flow, the writing is great and very informative, with extensive
passages about everything regarding the ship. I would recommend it to evey maritime enthusiast.
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BOOK
- A full encyclopedia of the ship.
- Gorgeous photos of great detail.
- The new edition has a few new parts.
- Full passenger and crew lists.
- There is also a list of the voyages and crossings she made.
ARC provided via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. Thank you!
June 30, 2015
I received an ecopy from Netgalley for an honest review.
What an absolutely fascinating read.
This is the story of the illustrious Cunard liner RMS Lusitania. While many of the other books coming out on this, the 100 anniversary of the sinking of the great liner, deal only with her final voyage, this is the only one that truly details her entire career from construction in 1906 to its torpedoing in May of 1915. In fact, this could be subtitled as an encyclopedia of the life of the ship. This is a wonderful tribute to one of the largest and fastest ships of her day, along with her sister ship Mauretania.
This is full of interesting facts of its construction, including many innovations unheard of on other vessels of the time. This was the first liner to install generators to supply the ship with electricity. It was the first to have elevators on board for both crew and passengers. There was a state of the art, for the times, telephone system aboard that would allow the crew to instantly communicate with each other and for the passengers to also communicate with other passengers, and, while in port, hook up to a land line and call friends and family from aboard ship.
There are many anecdotal stories of passengers, both famous and otherwise, and her crew. It discusses the five captains who helmed her during her seven and a half year life.
And to top it all off, this is a lavishly illustrated book, with dozens of photographs from her construction up to leaving New York on her final voyage. Apparently, during her sinking, a passenger was seen snapping away pictures for posterity. He did not survive the sinking nor did his photos. A crewman also took some photos of the sinking. He survived but the photos did not. And in the final chapters, there are photos of the German U-Boat commander and there is a surviving photo of his U-Boat 20 in port harbored with many other submarines.
The book also sets out to debunk many of the myths that have surrounded her for the past century, such as carrying munitions for the war effort and her sinking being the reason for the United States to enter the war.She did have crates of rifle cartridges but nothing more sinister aboard and all of the dives on the wreckage have failed to find any evidence of war equipment. And the United States did not enter the war for two more years following her sinking.
Mysteries still exist around her and the biggest one still is why she sank in only 18 minutes. Of the 1,960 passengers and crew aboard, only 763 survived.
What an absolutely fascinating read.
This is the story of the illustrious Cunard liner RMS Lusitania. While many of the other books coming out on this, the 100 anniversary of the sinking of the great liner, deal only with her final voyage, this is the only one that truly details her entire career from construction in 1906 to its torpedoing in May of 1915. In fact, this could be subtitled as an encyclopedia of the life of the ship. This is a wonderful tribute to one of the largest and fastest ships of her day, along with her sister ship Mauretania.
This is full of interesting facts of its construction, including many innovations unheard of on other vessels of the time. This was the first liner to install generators to supply the ship with electricity. It was the first to have elevators on board for both crew and passengers. There was a state of the art, for the times, telephone system aboard that would allow the crew to instantly communicate with each other and for the passengers to also communicate with other passengers, and, while in port, hook up to a land line and call friends and family from aboard ship.
There are many anecdotal stories of passengers, both famous and otherwise, and her crew. It discusses the five captains who helmed her during her seven and a half year life.
And to top it all off, this is a lavishly illustrated book, with dozens of photographs from her construction up to leaving New York on her final voyage. Apparently, during her sinking, a passenger was seen snapping away pictures for posterity. He did not survive the sinking nor did his photos. A crewman also took some photos of the sinking. He survived but the photos did not. And in the final chapters, there are photos of the German U-Boat commander and there is a surviving photo of his U-Boat 20 in port harbored with many other submarines.
The book also sets out to debunk many of the myths that have surrounded her for the past century, such as carrying munitions for the war effort and her sinking being the reason for the United States to enter the war.She did have crates of rifle cartridges but nothing more sinister aboard and all of the dives on the wreckage have failed to find any evidence of war equipment. And the United States did not enter the war for two more years following her sinking.
Mysteries still exist around her and the biggest one still is why she sank in only 18 minutes. Of the 1,960 passengers and crew aboard, only 763 survived.
May 24, 2015
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
A rarity for me, but I did not like this book at all. I do give it plenty of credit for the vast number of photographs of the famed liner but the text is difficult to read. This could be a fault of the ARC edition. However, it is almost possible to see exactly where additions were made to the previously published book when it was updated to the "Centennial Edition". I think I would have preferred a smoother blending of the text. For someone looking for a general history of the Lusitania, this is an excellent resource; however, it should be realized that it doesn't focus on the sinking but the overall career of the ship.
A rarity for me, but I did not like this book at all. I do give it plenty of credit for the vast number of photographs of the famed liner but the text is difficult to read. This could be a fault of the ARC edition. However, it is almost possible to see exactly where additions were made to the previously published book when it was updated to the "Centennial Edition". I think I would have preferred a smoother blending of the text. For someone looking for a general history of the Lusitania, this is an excellent resource; however, it should be realized that it doesn't focus on the sinking but the overall career of the ship.
May 14, 2015
I received a free copy of this e-book via the publisher via Netgalley, in exchange for a review.
This might as well be called the Lusitania Encyclopedia. It is full of photographs that showcase the ship beautifully. The text of the book is richly detailed, and highly readable. This book helps to dispel many of the conspiracy theories that surround the circumstances of her sinking. The author does a brilliant job of showcasing the ship, starting with the design conception, construction, voyages, sinking and finally her legacy. This is a must for anyone interested in the ship, as well as fans of the great liners of the era.
This might as well be called the Lusitania Encyclopedia. It is full of photographs that showcase the ship beautifully. The text of the book is richly detailed, and highly readable. This book helps to dispel many of the conspiracy theories that surround the circumstances of her sinking. The author does a brilliant job of showcasing the ship, starting with the design conception, construction, voyages, sinking and finally her legacy. This is a must for anyone interested in the ship, as well as fans of the great liners of the era.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews