Lusitania

An Epic Tragedy

De: Diana Preston

Narrado por: Anne Twomey

On May 7, 1915, toward the end of a routine crossing from New York to Liverpool, England, RMS Lusitania - pride of the Cunard Line and one of the greatest ocean liners afloat - became the target of a terrifying new weapon and a casualty of a terrible new kind of war. Sunk by a torpedo fired from the German submarine U-20, she exploded, burned, then sank in 18 minutes, taking with her some 1,200 people, more than half of the crew and passengers. Cold-blooded, deliberate, and unprecedented in the annals of terror, the sinking of the Lusitania shocked the world.

In her riveting account of this enormous tragedy - which caused controversies that continue to this day - Diana Preston recalls both a pivotal moment in history and a remarkable human drama. With a historian's insight and a novelist's gift for characterization and detail, Preston re-creates the Lusitania's voyage through the eyes of those who experienced it. Passengers included the rich and the powerful and the rest of the human comedy: newlyweds and nursemaids, galley cooks and stokers, Quakers and cardsharks, ship's detectives and German stowaways. Drawing on a vast array of sources including letters and memoirs, Cunard and Admiralty archives, and previously untranslated German documents, Preston weaves their lives into her own dramatic narrative, giving this story a powerful immediacy.

Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy is also available in print from Walker & Company.

Listen to Diana Preston on C-SPAN's Booknotes (June 23, 2002).

©2002 by Diana Preston
(P)2002 Random House, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A captivating and conscientious narrative...a brilliant account." (Booklist, starred review)

"Few popular historians can marshal facts and place them within their times as vividly as [Preston]." (Chicago Sun-Times)

Lots of research resulted in an excellent book

Diana preston did an excellent job of capturing the fate of the Lusitania. I was not well informed of the disaster before listening to the book, but found myself fully engaged by the story line. Anne Twomey did a stellar job of narrating the book.

An excellent 'read'

This is a facinating book, filled with the drama of a war time tragedy, filled with human suffering and also of tragic errors that resulted in the loss of so many.

Narrated in a voice, tone and style that is not only easy to listen to - and that places further emphasis on the tragedy that unfolds, this is a must read, even for those otherwise not interested in historical events.

interesting

An interesting mix of historical info and drama. Worth the money

Compelling account

Not as long as other accounts but good summary of the events surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania. I do wish audiobooks would learn NOT to play loud background music over the narrator's voice.

John Jacob Astor

Highy inflated reviews. This is the Ann Landers version of the sinking. The author provides no analysis of information but instead dwells on the personal adpects of individuals involved in this tragic event. Certainly the horror of this early terrorist act is captured but there is no overarching theme to the book other than the human tragedy.