This account of the sinking of the Titanic presents a big picture through a string of individual moments and what certain people said and did in those moments. Nobody recognized the danger at first. Ice warnings went unheeded. Another ship didn't come to help. People were slow to get out of bed. Most men tried to be gallant and in many cases talked their female companions into leaving without them. Ben Guggenheim put on his tuxedo before sitting, resigned, in a deck chair. The life vest-clad band played ragtime but switched to hymns toward the very end. One schmuck brought his dog and his reptile onto the life raft. The captain said he was going to follow the ship before he let go and succumbed to the water. On the life rafts, crew members used oars to beat away men who tried to get in. One guy wore a lady's shawl to sneak on. There were 18 life boats, but only one turned back to pick up the people flailing in the water. The life boats had a much larger capacity than the numbers that were allowed to board them. While waiting for rescue, the people in life boats rowed hard, argued about things like whether smoking should be allowed, and shared extra layers of clothing.

The author leaves the Titanic near the end of the book to tell the story of the Carpathia, whose crew eagerly sped from warm waters into cold with hope of saving everyone aboard the Titanic. But it wasn't there anymore when they arrived. Some people onboard the rescue ship knew some of the new arrivals and gave them their clothes and beds. A passenger who didn't know what was happening was surprised when his niece showed up knocking on his stateroom door. Bruce Ismay, chairman of White Star Line, was safe but devastated and stayed in a stateroom on opiates. One cruiser inappropriately tried to make small talk with a Titanic refugee, saying something like "How is it that you never seem to age?" I think that's about as insensitive as calling a book about 1,600 deaths "A Night to Remember."

Outdated, but still a favorite.

This is a classic, the best story about the Titanic for the time. Can be read in about the time it took the boat to sink.

3.5/5