num_pages: 317
description: A riveting account of the Titanic disaster and the unraveling of the gilded Edwardian society that had created it.In April 1912 six notable people were among those privileged to experience the height of luxuryfirst class passage on the ship of dreams the RMS Titanic: Lucy Leslie Countess of Rothes; son of the British Empire Tommy Andrews; American captain of industry John Thayer and his son Jack; Jewish-American immigrant Ida Straus; and American model and movie star Dorothy Gibson. Within a week of setting sail they were all caught up in the horrifying disaster of the Titanics sinking one of the biggest news stories of the century. Today we can see their stories and the Titanics voyage as the beginning of the end of the established hierarchy of the Edwardian era. Writing in his elegant signature prose and using previously unpublished sources deck plans journal entries and surviving artifacts Gareth Russell peers through the portholes of these first-class travelers to immerse us in a time of unprecedented change in British and American history. Through their intertwining lives he examines social technological political and economic forces such as the nuances of the British class system the explosion of competition in the shipping trade the birth of the movie industry the Irish Home Rule Crisis and the Jewish-American immigrant experience while also recounting their intimate stories of bravery tragedy and selflessness. Masterful in its superb grasp of the forces of history gripping in its moment-by-moment account of the sinking revelatory in discounting long-held myths and lavishly illustrated with color and black and white photographs this absorbing accessible and authoritative account of the Titanics life and death is destined to become the definitive book on the subject.
language: English
title: The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era
publisher: Atria Books