Dead Wake

The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

By: Erik Larson

Narrated by: Scott Brick

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania

“Both terrifying and enthralling.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Thrilling, dramatic and powerful.”—NPR
“Thoroughly engrossing.”—George R.R. Martin

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.

Finalist for the Washington State Book Award • One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Miami Herald, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, LibraryReads, Indigo

'A Deed for Which a Hun Would Blush'

On May 1, 1915, the Lusitania departed from New York on the return leg of her 101st voyage. Six days later, 11 miles off the coast of Ireland, the Lusitania was struck by a German torpedo at 2:10 p.m. and within 18 minutes (the Titanic took 2 hr. 40 min.) the Lusitania slid into the water. A NY newspaper's headline read “A Deed for Which a Hun Would Blush, a Turk Be Ashamed, and a Barbary Pirate Apologize.”

The seeds of disaster may have been sown before the Lusitania even left NY when the Cunard Line and the passengers chose to brush aside the official warnings from the German Embassy. Kaiser Wilhelm had declared 8 months earlier that the North Sea was now a war zone, in which all merchant ships, including those from neutral countries, were liable to be sunk without warning. Adding heft to the facts that Larson presents, are the damning little mistakes and coincidences, plus the what-if's. He strategically lays out the pending disaster and shows how relevant it all is -- how 5 min. either way could have changed history. And, at times it felt like everything conspired against the Lusitania.

Historians have flirted with the notion of a conspiracy orchestrated by Winston Churchill to prod a neutral United States into the war in Europe. While Larsen doesn't set out to prove or disprove that notion, the information he gives does push the reader in one of those directions. Citing comments by King George V: “Suppose they should sink the Lusitania with American passengers aboard?” and Churchill: “For our part, we want the traffic [from America] - the more the better; and if some of it gets into trouble, better still.” And naval historian, the late Patrick Beesly's interview with the Imperial War Museum in London: “there was indeed a plot, however imperfect, to endanger the Lusitania in order to involve the United States in the war.” I suppose a conclusion here calls for a higher form of deductive reasoning than if it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck.

Balancing the facts with the human elements and the political theater, Larson keeps the integrity of history, but gives it an easily held timeline and some pizazz -- even though we know what's coming, Larson's signature is skillful telling that builds anticipation. (Though his talent can occasionally be an impediment, as in having to read over pages of the ship's manifest. The minutiae at times is more a curiosity than it is interesting.)

What happened adds up to more than just a series of horrible coincidences. : Why wasn't there a military escort into the Channel; why was a boat responding to the mayday ordered to turn around; why did *Room 40* not let the Lusitania know the information they had decoded; and...why were approximately four million rounds of U.S.manufactured Remington .303 bullets in the Lusitania's hold? Larsen puts the questions in your mouth, but don't expect him to give any answers. Not a lot of new information, but it's still history like only Larsen does history.

Scott Brick's talents seem well suited reading this kind of book.

Another winner

Erik Larson wrote another winner. I pre-ordered it based on his previous books. He makes history come alive by including stories about minor characters. Totally wonderful.

Larson + Brick - a Masterful Combination!

A year ago I read Larson's book The Devil in the White City and loved it. He wrote so well about a period of history I knew little about. I was enthralled to encounter all of the famous people who visited Chicago in its preparations for and hosting of the World's Fair. I have visited Central Park in NYC many times and so was happy to see Olmstead in that book. He was one of dozens of names I recognized and had learned about on other occasions.

Dead Wake did the same. Larson shares anecdotes about Churchill and Wilson, the captains of the Lusitania and of the UBoat that torpedoed the Lusitania. But we also get to know the stories of many of its passengers. Those stories give this book life and make it entertaining as well as informative. This is not a dry history book; it is fast-paced, tightly written, engaging story of the events which pulled America into World War I. I will certainly look for more books by Mr Larson after two compelling and fascinating reads.

Scott Brick is always excellent and this book is no exception. He never fails to give books the perfect voice. He is subtle, strong and never fails to add life to the characters.

Fascinating never boring

This book was fascinating and kept me interested all the way through. It is about so much more than just the Lusitania it’s also about seafaring during a time war. It also gives a glimpse into who some of the victims were, the key players President Wilson being one I found out things I didn’t know about him, a young Winston Churchill gets a bit of a storyline to that I found interesting. And the first edition of A Christmas Carol that was also a victim was very sad too.

We all know the story of the Titanic, I’ve read countless books and seen so many documentaries and movies about it but I never knew much about the Lusitania, which is why I wanted to read this book. I found it interesting that the Germans didn’t care if it was a military boat or civilians because they could be bringing supplies so let’s torpedo them all, and that President Wilson said as long as no Americans are on the ships they are shooting down it’s fine, which is quite a different attitude than our government has today. And the British knew that they weren’t shooting at American boats so when the boats got close to England they would fly an American flag, then when the Germans figured that out it was a shoot at everything mentality.

The sad part of the Lusitania being shot down was there were so many children onboard, and that there were destroyers in the area, who I feel should have been escorting and protecting the Lusitania but because of an order to not engage with the subs they knew were there, left these people stranded and I believe more could have been saved had they intervened sooner.

I found this book completely fascinating and it was hard to stop listening, I found all the stories about what seafaring was like in this area during this time period really interesting, as I knew nothing of any of it.

Erik Larson is a great writer I really enjoy his writing style and I liked how he humanized all sides in this conflict.

Scott Brick’s narration was of course wonderful, I thought his male and female voices were well done and he really brought this story to life.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone curious about history or seafaring; also if you like to read books about the Titanic, you should read this book.

4 ½ Stars

So glad that I listened to this bit of history

Most of the true stories that I have listened to are way to dry and boring. Erik Larson seems to have a knack of making true events more interesting. I especially liked "Devil in the White City" Because of that book I will always trust that I get an interesting history lesson from Erik Larson. I actually wish that there were more events that I could learn about from this author and narrator. Enjoy...