LUSITANIA

While I realize that most of the illustrations were produced at the turn of the century when color prints were not available, if there is any way to add some color throughout the book, it would make it more visually appealing to high school students.

review will be posted july 31 Lusitania is an illustrated biography about the ship that sunk 100 years ago on May 7, 1915. The book goes through her birth, career and her last days. There are some notes from survivors and since it is illustrated there are a LOT of photos. (In fact, it almost seemed like it was too many photos for my Nook to handle!) The book also contains passenger lists, crew lists, and basically everything you'd ever want to know about the Lusitania. (I'm not sure why I am so fascinated with the Lusitania, but I am, since I first learned about it in school.) The end of the book contains some colorized photos which was a nice surprise!

If you want to know more about Lusitania or you don't know much about it at all - either way you'll leave this book knowing her entire story. Take a journey back in time and find out about this ocean liner.

I received an e-copy of this book in order to write this review.

This might as well be called the Lusitania Encyclopedia. It is full of photographs that showcase the ship beautifully. The text of the book is richly detailed, and highly readable. This book helps to dispel many of the conspiracy theories that surround the circumstances of her sinking. The author does a brilliant job of showcasing the ship, starting with the design conception, construction, voyages, sinking and finally her legacy. This is a must for anyone interested in the ship, as well as fans of the great liners of the era.

Copy/paste link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1289098262

Lusitania has her own place in transatlantic ocean liners history and is absolutely staggering and profusely accomplished. With an outstanding carreer and a tragic end, she the star of Cunard -along with her sister Mauritania- has nothing to be jealous of from other liners of her era.

Well this book, succeeds in describing every single characteristic, defuses some conspiracy theories about her demise and delineates any historic event in vast and full detail.

Generally easy to read and with a nice flow, the writing is great and very informative, with extensive passages about everything regarding the ship. I would recommend it to evey maritime enthusiast.

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BOOK

- A full encyclopedia of the ship.
- Gorgeous photos of great detail.
- The new edition has a few new parts.
- Full passenger and crew lists.
- There is also a list of the voyages and crossings she made.

This book is truly a treasure! If you like ships and history do not let this book pass you by. It is full of rare photos and history. The Lusitania was a beautiful ship and her sinking was a tragedy and a tremendous loss. You will love this book! It is well done. I love the history of these "famous" ships. I am definitely reccomending this to be purchased for our rural library

Well researched. Well written. I'm an amateur history buff who already knew a great deal about the sinking of the Lusitania but learned new information from this book. And I am always crazy for a book with an abundance of really good (sometimes rare) illustrations. Thank you J. Kent Layton.

What an absolutely fascinating read.

This is the story of the illustrious Cunard liner RMS Lusitania. While many of the other books coming out on this, the 100 anniversary of the sinking of the great liner, deal only with her final voyage, this is the only one that truly details her entire career from construction in 1906 to its torpedoing in May of 1915. In fact, this could be subtitled as an encyclopedia of the life of the ship. This is a wonderful tribute to one of the largest and fastest ships of her day, along with her sister ship Mauretania.

This is full of interesting facts of its construction, including many innovations unheard of on other vessels of the time. This was the first liner to install generators to supply the ship with electricity. It was the first to have elevators on board for both crew and passengers. There was a state of the art, for the times, telephone system aboard that would allow the crew to instantly communicate with each other and for the passengers to also communicate with other passengers, and, while in port, hook up to a land line and call friends and family from aboard ship.

There are many anecdotal stories of passengers, both famous and otherwise, and her crew. It discusses the five captains who helmed her during her seven and a half year life.

And to top it all off, this is a lavishly illustrated book, with dozens of photographs from her construction up to leaving New York on her final voyage. Apparently, during her sinking, a passenger was seen snapping away pictures for posterity. He did not survive the sinking nor did his photos. A crewman also took some photos of the sinking. He survived but the photos did not. And in the final chapters, there are photos of the German U-Boat commander and there is a surviving photo of his U-Boat 20 in port harbored with many other submarines.

The book also sets out to debunk many of the myths that have surrounded her for the past century, such as carrying munitions for the war effort and her sinking being the reason for the United States to enter the war.She did have crates of rifle cartridges but nothing more sinister aboard and all of the dives on the wreckage have failed to find any evidence of war equipment. And the United States did not enter the war for two more years following her sinking.

Mysteries still exist around her and the biggest one still is why she sank in only 18 minutes. Of the 1,960 passengers and crew aboard, only 763 survived.

This is a giant of a book in every way. It's packed with high quality photos, many published for the first time, and the scope of the narrative tells the whole story of the Lusitania. It's a truly astonishing slice of social history, with many first hand accounts giving the text a lively and real feel.

Many will have heard of the Lusitania, but the story of a later ship, Titanic, is the one which has captured imagination. In a way, the Lusitania story is the more compelling. She had a sailing career of some 7 years, travelling back and forth across the Atlantic, taking many to a new life in the New World. And the circumstances of her loss, torpedoed by the Germans despite being a civilian ship, remains controversial.

Built at the John Brown shipyard, this was a truly sumptuous Cunard liner. The photos and descriptions of the interior design and decor bring a different age of social custom and travel vividly to life. In addition to a range of sumptuous lounges, there were writing and music rooms, a huge fireplace and Corinthian columns over 9.5 feet. With extensive walnut panelling, parquet floors and miles of Brussels carpet, it's difficult to believe that these areas are all located within the confines of a hull. The opulent areas were for the exclusive benefit of of some 500 First Class passengers. The 1100 Third Class and 400 or so Second Class had to manage with significantly less.

The research is impeccable. There's sufficient technical detail to satisfy anyone with an interest in the history of a ship's method of construction. But at the same time, the narrative is totally accessible to the lay reader. It's filled with human interest making it a compelling read. J Kent Layton has done his subject proud in a remarkable record of an iconic flagship. I enjoyed it immensely and will look for other books in his series about liners from the last century. My sincere thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.