The release date for the English version of 'Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania' by
Erik Larson is Mar 2015. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
Enthralling account of the sinking of the Lusitania from the #1 New York Times bestselling book and master of narrative nonfiction
A record number of newborns and children were carried on board a luxurious ocean liner that left New York on May 1, 1915, headed for Liverpool. The ship was as lavishly furnished as an English country home. The travelers felt uneasy. Germany's U-boats terrorized the North Atlantic for months after it proclaimed the waters around Britain to be a war zone. But the captain of the Lusitania, William Thomas Turner, had enormous trust in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that had protected civilian ships from assault for a century, making the ship one of the great transatlantic "Greyhounds" of the age. Furthermore, he was aware that his ship, which was the fastest in use at the time, could outrun any danger.
However, Walther Schwieger, the Unterseeboot-20 commander, was pleased to satisfy Germany's aggressive efforts to alter the game's regulations. In the meanwhile, Schwieger's U-boat was monitored by a British ultra-secret intelligence outfit, but they kept it a secret. A number of enormous and painfully little factors, including arrogance, a fortuitous fog, a closely-kept secret, and more, came together as U-20 and the Lusitania approached Liverpool to cause one of the worst tragedies in recorded history.
Many of us believe we know this tale, but in reality, few do. Erik Larson presents it in a gripping way, alternating between the hunter and the pursued while presenting a more comprehensive picture of America at the height of the Progressive Era. A cast of compelling characters, including pioneering female architect Theodate Pope Riddle, renowned Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat, and President Wilson—a man lost to grief who is both enthralled with the idea of new love and terrified of the war's growing intensity—are brought to life in Dead Wake, a film full of glitz, mystery, and real-life suspense. Dead Wake is a compelling and significant work that powerfully conveys the drama and emotional impact of a calamity that contributed to America's decision to go to war.