Lusitania: Triumph, Tragedy, and the End of the Edwardian Age

The sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 has long existed in the shadow of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic. To give the Lusitania its due, King and Wilson flesh out the history of the ship's last voyage and the people who were a part of it. The account brims with rich detail about the ship itself, from the 200 miles of electric wiring that ran through it to the three barrels of live turtles that chefs brought on board. Though initially the book feels like a series of short biographies of the wealthy passengers, the excesses and dramas of these figures are quickly forgotten when the German U-Boat U-20 successfully torpedoes the Lusitania. King and Wilson excel at capturing the horrors of the event: lifebelts stolen from cabins, rickety lifeboats plunging into the ocean, passengers in the water getting sucked under by the sinking ship or having their eyes plucked out by seagulls. The ship was gone in 18 minutes, but questions still linger, with blame to be shared by the British Admiralty, Captain Turner, the Lusitania's cruise line, and of course, the U-Boat that fired the torpedo. This is a solid, fascinating account of a ship, its passengers, and its terrible fate. (Mar.)