Titanic 100th Anniversary Edition: A Night Remembered

(Paperback)

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Description

In a night of unforgettable tragedy, the world's most famous liner struck an iceberg on 14 April 1912 and sank. Over 1500 people died. Whose fault it was, and how the passengers and crew reacted, has been the subject of continuing dispute over the 100 years since the disaster. This is an account of Titanic's tragic maiden voyage which also focuses on some of those who died: among them Titanic's captain Edward Smith and builder Thomas Andrews, John Jacob Astor, the richest man on board, and the bandmaster, Wallace Hartley, who played as the ship sank. In this centenary edition Stephanie Barczewski traces the events of that fatal night. Many of those who died were treated as heroes and how these men were remembered says much about contemporary values of manhood, chivalry and national pride. Titanic: A Night Remembered also sets the liner in the context of three ports: Belfast, where she was built; Southampton, which lost 600 citizens as members of her crew; and Queenstown in Ireland, her last port of call.

Reviews

A story that never loses its power to shock... those who have not previously read a detailed account will find this one absorbing...The author gives us a number of fascinating potted biographies, including that of Jack Phillips, the Titanic's wireless operator, Wallace Hartley, bandleader of the ship's eight-man orchestra, and Captain Edward Smith, master of the ship on its first and only voyage. It is blundering Smith who most captures the imagination. In the photographs he stands there, every inch the venerable sea captain, holding the lead of a giant white dog. One finds it hard to believe that he could be so criminally irresponsible as to disregard the numerous ice warnings and continue to race towards New York while other ships had dropped anchor. There was not just one iceberg; when dawn came on that terrible 15 April, the survivors in the boats saw a horizon dotted with great chunks of ice -- Beryl Bainbridge in The New Statesman
Stephanie Barczewski is recounting a collective memory, still echoing a hundred years after the Titanic disaster...To her everlasting credit, she devotes more time to the men and women who built the Titanic and who crewed her - who essentially brought the Titanic to life - than to those who merely inhabited her for a few days. Those are memories which deserve to be memorialized, and Barczewski has done exactly that: brava! -- Daniel Allen Butler, author of Unsinkable: The Full Story of the RMS Titanic
For its ability to challenge conventional wisdom over Titanic heroism, to bring to life the places associated with the ship and the many colourful characters associated with the disaster, [this book] is well worth a read -- The Irish Independent
Featured in the Church Times.

Author Bio

A specialist in modern British cultural history, Stephanie Barczewski is Professor of History at Clemson University in South Carolina, USA, where she has taught since 1996. In 2005 she became Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities at Clemson. She is the author of numerous books.