Reviews

Ramsay investigates the 101st and final voyage of the ocean liner Lusitania, torpedoed on May 7, 1915, by a German U-boat as it was crossing the North Atlantic from the U.S. to England. Of the nearly 2,000 people on board, only 764 survived. The incident eventually pushed the U.S. to enter WWI. Ramsay recounts the disaster itself from every perspective, probing international policy, WWI history and the background and design of the luxury liner itself. Drawing on witness accounts and survivor interviews, Ramsay also re-creates the experiences of different passengers and crew members. After the disaster, he shows, all sides used the ship's demise for war propaganda, and hearsay surrounding the incident gave rise to several conspiracy theories (the vessel was under faulty command; Churchill had prior knowledge of the attack and refused to prevent it; the ship was carrying munitions). Some may find Ramsay's detailed postmortem of every aspect of the disaster a little dry, while his account of families adrift in the sea may strike others as too melodramatic. Still, military and maritime history buffs should appreciate Ramsay's painstaking research, and his comparisons of the Lusitania incident to the more famous sinking of the Titanic offer a useful perspective, even if it does sometimes seem to be a shameless attempt to lure the Leo-loving set. Photos, illus. and maps. (May 2) Forecast: This title will be competing for shelf space this month with Walker's slightly more compelling Lusitania, by Diana Preston (Forecasts, Mar. 11). Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.