Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Written by Erik Larson
Narrated by Scott Brick
4.5/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania
On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, 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 surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era's great transatlantic "Greyhounds"-the fastest liner then in service-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.
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 and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow 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 whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history.
Editor's Note
The definitive account…
Over a century after the Lusitania’s sinking in WWI, Larson provides the definitive account of the players and the circumstances that led to this tragedy. A shockingly gripping account of a little-known history.
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Reviews for Dead Wake
69 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A deathly sobering, highly engaging window into the forgotten annals of war before radar, sonar, and planes. An absolute must read and outstanding listen.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was well-written. I liked the stories and the history. I think the author did a very good job of telling the story. I liked it, but it wasn't amazing. There wasn't anything wrong with it; that's just how I feel Kate
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's true, it was well written, well read, extremely interesting.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Absolutely fascinating and well researched and written. This is a heart wrenching dive into a critical historical moment.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I have such a hard time picking a favorite book by this author. I enjoy them all.
1 person found this helpful