Finalist for the Washington State Book Award -- History/General Non-fiction A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2015 A St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Book of 2015 A Miami Herald Favorite Book of 2015 BookTrib''s Best Narrative Nonfiction Book of 2015 #1 History & Biography Book in the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards A LibraryReads Top Ten Book of 2015 A Library Journal Top Ten Book of 2015 A Kirkus Best Book of 2015 An Indigo Best Book of 2015 "Larson is one of the modern masters of popular narrative nonfiction.a resourceful reporter and a subtle stylist who understands the tricky art of Edward Scissorhands-ing narrative strands into a pleasing story.An entertaining book about a great subject, and it will do much to make this seismic event resonate for new generations of readers." -- The New York Times Book Review "Larson is an old hand at treating nonfiction like high drama.He knows how to pick details that have maximum soapy potential and then churn them down until they foam [and] has an eye for haunting, unexploited detail." -- The New York Times "In his gripping new examination of the last days of what was then the fastest cruise ship in the world, Larson brings the past stingingly alive.He draws upon telegrams, war logs, love letters, and survivor depositions to provide the intriguing details, things I didn''t know I wanted to know.
Thrilling, dramatic and powerful." --NPR "Larson is a journalist who writes non-fiction books that read like novels, real page-turners. This one is no exception. I had known a lot about the Titanic but little about the Lusitania . This filled in those gaps. this one is pretty damned good. Thoroughly engrossing." --George R.
R. Martin "This enthralling and richly detailed account demonstrates that there was far more going on beneath the surface than is generally known.Larson''s account [of the Lusitania ''s sinking] is the most lucid and suspenseful yet written, and he finds genuine emotional power in the unlucky confluences of forces, ''large and achingly small,'' that set the stage for the ship''s agonizing final moments." -- The Washington Post "Utterly engrossing.Expertly ratcheting up the tension.Larson puts us on board with these peop⤠it''s page-turning history, breathing with life." -- The Seattle Times "Larson has a gift for transforming historical re-creations into popular recreations, and Dead Wake is no exception.[He] provides first-rate suspense, a remarkable achievement given that we already know how this is going to turn out.
The tension, in the reader''s easy chair, is unbearable." -- The Boston Globe "Both terrifying and enthralling. As the two vessels stumble upon each other, the story almost takes on the narrative pulse of Jaws -- the sinking was impossible and inevitable at the same time. At no point do you root for the shark, but Larson''s incredible detail pulls you under and never lets you go." -- Entertainment Weekly "Erik Larson [has] made a career out of turning history into best sellers that read as urgently as thrillers.A meticulous master of non-fiction suspense." --USA Today "[Larson] vividly captures the disaster and the ship''s microcosm, in which the second class seems more appealing than the first." -- The New Yorker "[Larson is] a superb storyteller and a relentless research hound.
" --Lev Grossman, TIME "[Larson] proves his mettle again as a weaver of tales of naïveté, calumny and intrigue. He engagingly sketches life aboard the liner and amply describes the powers'' political situations. The panorama Mr. Larson surveys is impressive, as is the breadth of his research and the length of his bibliography. He can''t miss engaging readers with the curious cast of characters, this ship of fools, and his accounting of the sinking itself and the survivors'' ordeals are the stuff of nightmares." -- Washington Times "Readers looking for a swift, emotionally engaging account of one of history''s great sea disasters will find Dead Wake grimly exhilarating. Larson is an exceptionally skilled storyteller, and his tick-tock narrative, which cuts between the Lusitania , U-20 and the political powers behind them, is pitch-perfect." -- The Richmond Times-Dispatch "Larson so brilliantly elucidates [the Lusitania ''s fate] in Dead Wake , his detailed forensic and utterly engrossing account of the Lusitania ''s last voyage.
Yes, we know how the story of the Lusitania ends, but there''s still plenty of white-knuckle tension. In Dead Wake , he delivers such a marvelously thorough investigation of the ship''s last week that it practically begs Hollywood blockbuster treatment." -- The Toronto Globe & Mail "Larson''s nimble, exquisitely researched tale puts you dead center.Larson deftly pulls off the near-magical feat of taking a foregone conclusion and conjuring a tale that''s suspenseful, moving and altogether riveting." --Dallas Morning News "With each revelation from Britain and America, with each tense, claustrophobic scene aboard U-20, the German sub that torpedoed the ship, with each vignette from the Lusitania , Larson''s well-paced narrative ratchets the suspense. His eye for the ironic detail keen, his sense of this time period perceptive, Larson spins a sweeping tale that gives the Lusitania its due attention. His book may well send Leonardo DiCaprio chasing its film rights." -- San Francisco Chronicle "An expertly crafted tale of individual and corporate hubris, governmental intrigue and cover-up, highlighting a stunning series of conincidences and miscalculations that ultimately placed the Lusitania in the direct path of the catastrophic strike.
[Larson''s] pacing is impeccable." -- The Miami Herald "[Larson] has a gift for finding the small, personal details that bring history to life.His depiction of the sinking of the ship, and the horrific 18 minutes between the time it was hit and the time it disappeared, is masterly, moving between strange, touching details." -- Columbus Dispatch "In the hands of a lesser craftsman, the fascinating story of the last crossing of the Lusitania might risk being bogged down by dull character portraits, painstaking technical analyses of submarine tactics or the minutiae of WWI-era global politics. Not so with Erik Larson.Larson wrestles these disparate narratives into a unified, coherent story and so creates a riveting account of the Lusitania ''s ending and the beginnings of the U.S.''s involvement in the war.
" --Pittsburgh Post Gazette "In your mind, the sinking of the luxury liner Lusitania may be filed in a cubbyhole.After reading Erik Larson''s impressive reconstruction of the Lusitania ''s demise, you''re going to need a much bigger cubbyhole.Larson''s book is a work of carefully sourced nonfiction, not a novelization, but it has a narrative sweep and miniseries pacing that make it highly entertaining as well as informative." -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "Larson breathes life into narrative history like few writers working today." --Minneapolis Star Tribune "Now the tragic footnote to a global conflagration, the history of the [ Lusitania ''s] final voyage. is worthy of the pathos and narrative artistry Erik Larson brings to Dead Wake .Reader''s of Larson''s previous nonfiction page turners.will not be disappointed.
He''s an excellent scene setter and diligent researcher who tells the story with finesse and suspense." -- Newsday "The story of the Lusitania ''s sinking by a German U-boat has been told before, but Larson''s version features new details and the gripping immediacy he''s famous for." -- People "We can''t wait for the James Cameron version of Erik Larson''s Dead Wake ." -- New York Magazine "Larson.long ago mastered the art of finding overlooked and faded curiosities and converting them into page-turning popular histories. Here, again, he manages the same trick." -- Christian Science Monitor "Fans of Erik Larson''s narrative nonfiction have trusted that whatever tale he chooses to tell, they''ll find it compelling. Dead Wake proves them right.
History at its harrowing best." -- New York Daily News "A quickly paced, imminently readable exploration of an old story you may only half-know." --Arkansas Democratic Gazette "We all know how the story ends, but Larson still makes you want to turn the pages, and turn them quickly. What makes the story, is that Larson takes a few main characters--the Lusitania ''s Captain William Thomas Turner, President Woodrow Wilson, U-boat Captain Walther Schweiger, Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat, architect Theodate Pope, and a few minor ones--and weaves them together towards the inevitable and tragic conclusion. Larson has done his research. The number of details and anecdotes that he has managed to cobble toge.