Dead Wake

The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

By: Erik Larson

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania

“Both terrifying and enthralling.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Thrilling, dramatic and powerful.”—NPR
“Thoroughly engrossing.”—George R.R. Martin

On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era’s great transatlantic “Greyhounds”—the fastest liner then in service—and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack.

Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger’s U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small—hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more—all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history.

It is a story that many of us think we know but don’t, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love.

Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history.

Finalist for the Washington State Book Award • One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Miami Herald, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, LibraryReads, Indigo

©2015 Erik Larson (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"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

U-Boats. Sinister. Fascinating

I am a 33 year old male without formal education. I adore history books if the story holds my attention, but I'm usually a fiction reader. Dead Wake got me off good!!!!

Very good story, but perhaps a bit too much

I enjoyed learning as much as I did. It brought the entire affair into fresh perspective. I would say as fascinating as the story was, thee is a balance between evens and some of the detailed descriptions of the passengers which might have been better stuck. There were times when, if not driving, I would have wanted to fast forward through the plentiful and all too vivid descriptions of lady's clothing or the various gentlemen's fashion choices. The political discussions, technical and nautical coverage was perfect. Just since we likely knew more about the wealthy passengers, the story seemed bias toward the deaths of the rich and famous. Not exclusively but heavily. None of which detracts from the value of the story

No New Ground but Very Entertaining

I may be one of the few people who didn't fall in love with Larson's book Devil in The White City. His writing style is a little too florid and wordy to me. However, since I read anything I can about World War 1, my issues with Larson's writing style wouldn't stop me from reading Dead Wake. And it is a book worth reading. Dead Wake tells the story of the sinking of the Lusitania, but that is really just the launching point of the book. Larson interweaves other key events and people into the narrative so the reader gets a good overview of the British Intelligence system, especially its code breaking department, the German and British navy's, especially the German U-Boat program, the operation of one of the largest businesses of the period, the Cunard Lines and more importantly the individuals intimately involved in the fate of the Lusitania, not just those on the boat, the crew and the passengers, but also the captain of the U-Boat who fired the torpedo that sunk the ship. He brought detail to at least a couple dozen passengers and crew members, some who survived and some who didn't. People who were never famous and are largely unknown by now. Because so much of the book dealt with the minutia of people's lives, I thought his writing style was better suited to this subject.

He also dealt with the Wilson administration and Wilson's appalling immaturity and naivete far more sympathetically than other contemporary authors. If anything, his generally positive handling of Wilson, was about the only thing that rang untrue.

I listened to this book and while Scott Brick is a prolific narrator and I regularly listen to and enjoy his narration style, I found his narration of this book a little too dramatic. he tried to infuse the narrative with a little too much emotion and drama for my taste. Regardless, it is still a book worth listening to. And it seemed to go very fast.

I heartily recommend this book.

Best Yet

Move over Devil in the White City, there is a new best. Incredible, heart gripping, human story of tragedy and survivors, of WWI, Germans, the British, Americans, spies and leaders and captains and Presidents. How a ship and a people met their fate. I couldn't put it down.

I had chills listening to Larson’s description

I knew the story of the Lusitania, but the research that Erik Larson brought together in this book added aspects that would never be covered in a history book. He introduced his readers to the travelers who were heading into a critical moment in history.

Great read!

Lardons book is thoroughly researched and he has created a thrilling story of two ships--the Lusitania and the submarine that torpedoes her.

Great book

A little slow at the start for me. I am glad I stuck with it. Great book!

Larson & his research transports us again!

Larsons deep research combined with an uncanny sense of where the story truly lives once again transports us through time. We are taking part of each event as if we are present at an archeologist dig. Each detail slowly uncovered, examined then placed like a puzzle piece into the landscape of the event we thought we knew. Scott brick works so subtlety yet, with authority and humanity I have yet to be distracted from the tale even once. Like great lighting is to film, his voice goes unnoticed while commanding your feelings from beginning to end. I love this pairing. Hope to go to WhiteChapel with them both someday.

Makes history come alive with a great (hi)STORY

What did you love best about Dead Wake?

I loved pretty much everything about this book, but especially the way Erik Larson writes non-fiction to read like a great novel. I loved how the three perspectives - the ship, Room 40 and UB-20 - all intertwined beautifully. It kept me interested from the first to the last.

What other book might you compare Dead Wake to and why?

Compared with the other Larson books I have read, "Devil in the White City" and "In the Garden of Beasts," I prefer this one for its clear narrative and well-crafted storytelling.

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Contrary to some other reviewers, I LOVE Scott Brick's narration style, especially with a subject this weighty and tragic. (You want overwrought? Try John Lee reading Follett.) He puts just the right tone into some of the more poignant moments and a bit of the outrage at the end. I loved his reading.

Any additional comments?

This is non-fiction writing done well: fascinating, well-crafted and well-paced. Very satisfying.

Highly recommend this book overall rating 5 stars

I love this book 5 stars all the way across the board I highly recommend this the narrator was perfect the story was very interesting I read this while walking I turned into a Forrest Gump just because I didn't want to stop listening to it