Fantastic story-telling on both sides. Larsen goes back and forth between the activities and people traveling on the Lusitania, the German submarine and its captain who would take her down, as well as the government leaders and entities on all sides who had the information and were making the decisions that would to some extent affect the outcomes. Larsen introduces the reader to quite a few of the passengers and some of the crew who were on the Lusitania, so you have an interest in what happens to them. I didn't know much at all about this incident and found this book to be both informative and at the same time entertaining and intriguing.
This was on some list of good books to read. It's a historical novel about the sinking of the Lusitania, a real ship (British passenger liner) that was sunk by the Germans during WWI. The author is a historian and did a massive amount of research for this book--the last 70 pages are "notes," a bibliography, and index. I knew about the Lusitania so there was no mystery about the ending. It took a while for me to get into the story. The author started with the passengers boarding in NYC to sail to Liverpool. The characters were real life passengers. The author went to great lengths in describing their clothing, their conversations with others, etc. I found some of it annoying as it came across as the author saying "see how much research I've done on this story--I even know what some of these folks were wearing." However, as the ship got closer to where it was ultimately sunk, I became more engrossed in the story. POSSIBLE SPOILERS: The surprising thing revealed in the book was that the Brits were aware that German subs had been and were stalking various parts of the ocean near the British Isles. In spite of that, the Lusitania was not told to divert from this area and was also not given an escort of battleships to ensure it safely made it to port. Furthermore, after the ship was sunk, the Lusitania's Captain Turner was blamed for the ship being sunk. Captain Turner survived the sinking, and an independent inquiry (which the British government tried to derail) exonerated him. There were American passengers on the Lusitania, and the British government was aware of this. The US had not yet entered WWI. US President Woodrow Wilson came across as weak-willed and indecisive. The Brits thought that one way American might finally enter the war was if there were Americans on board a passenger liner that was sunk by the Germans. So, it certainly seemed that leaving the Lusitania unprotected as it neared its destination was a calculated move by the Brits in hopes that America would finally enter the war.
This book was a great accounting of the sinking of the Lusitania. I thought I knew the details of this incident but soon found I knew nothing about it. Filled with lots and lots of details. I never felt overwhelmed with all the information and often found myself reading very late into the night.
