Voyagers of the Titanic - 2012

Front Cover: Voyages of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From - 2012

Front Cover: Voyages of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From - 2012. GGA Image ID # 1024ff056c

From the Dustjacket Flaps

Late in the night of April 14,1912, the mighty Titanic, a passenger liner traveling from Southampton, England, to New York City, struck an iceberg four hundred miles south of Newfoundland. Its sinking over the next two and a half hours brought the ship—mythological in name and size—one hundred years of infamy.

Of the 2,240 people aboard the ship, 1,517 perished either by drowning or by freezing to death in the frigid North Atlantic waters. What followed the disaster was tantamount to a worldwide outpouring of grief: In New York, Paris, London, and other major cities, people lined the streets and crowded around the offices of the White Star Line, the Titanic s shipping company, to inquire for news of their loved ones and for details about the lives of some of the famous people of their time.

While many accounts of the Titanic's voyage focus on the technical or mechanical aspects of why the ship sank, Voyagers of the Titanic follows the stories of the men, women, and children whose lives intersected on the vessel’s fateful last day, covering the full range of first, second, and third class—from plutocrats and captains of industry to cobblers and tailors looking for a better life in America.

Richard Davenport-Hines delves into the fascinating lives of those who ate, drank, reveled, dreamed, and died aboard the mythic ship: from John Jacob Astor IV, the wealthiest person on board, whose comportment that night was subject to speculation and gossip for years after the event, to Archibald Butt, the much-beloved military aide to Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, who died helping others into the Titanic s few lifeboats.

With magnificent prose, Voyagers of the Titanic also brings to life the untold stories of the ship’s middle and third classes—clergymen, teachers, hoteliers, engineers, shopkeepers, counterjumpers, and clerks—each of whom had a story that not only illuminates the fascinating ship but also the times in which it sailed.

In addition, Davenport-Hincs explores the fascinating politics behind the Titanic’s creation, which involved larger-than-life figures such as J. P. Morgan, the ship’s owner, and Lord Pirrie, the ship’s builder.

The memory of this tragedy still remains a part of the American psyche and Voyagers of the Titanic brings that clear night back to us with all of its drama and pathos.

From the Back Cover

Back Cover: Voyages of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From - 2012

Back Cover: Voyages of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From - 2012. GGA Image ID # 10251329da

Advance Praise for Voyagers of the Titanic

“Lost in all the arguments about hubris, folly, and class that enfold the
Titanic story like a Grand Banks fog have been a myriad of long-forgotten or
never-known human stories, tales of passengers and crew—and owners and
builders and speculators and rescuers—who were riveted together both in
and by this great maritime tragedy. Here at last is the true memorial to them
all, a book well worthy of marking the centenary of the crystal-clear night
when the immense ship slid to her terrible doom.” —SIMON WINCHESTER

“An astonishing work of meticulous research, which allows us to know,
in painful detail, the men and women on that fateful voyage. Even now, a hundred years later, Mr. Davenport-Hines finds a new and heartbreaking story to tell.” —JULIAN FELLOWES, creator and executive producer of Downton Abbey and Titanic

Table of Contents

  • Prologue: From Greenland's Icy Mountains

Part I: On Land

  1. Boarding
  2. Speed
  3. Shipowners
  4. Shipbuilders
  5. Sailors

Part II: At Sea

  1. First Class
  2. Second Class
  3. Third Class
  4. Officers and Crew

Part III: Life and Death

  1. Collision
  2. The Meaning Shows in the Defeated Thing

 

  • Acknowledgments
  • Statement on Monetary Values
  • Notes
  • Index

About the Author

RICHARD DAVENPORT-HINES is the acclaimed biographer of W. H. Auden and the Macmillan dynasty. He is also the author of Proust at the Majestic: The Last Days of the Author Whose Book Changed Paris and The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics. He is a regular contributor to the U.K. publications Literary Review, the Sunday Telegraph, the Spectator, and the Times Literary Supplement.

Library of Congress Catalog Listing

  • Personal name: Davenport-Hines, R. P. T. (Richard Peter Treadwell), 1953-
  • Main title: Voyagers of the Titanic : passengers, sailors, shipbuilders, aristocrats, and the worlds they came from / Richard Davenport-Hines.
  • Edition: 1st ed.
  • Published/Created: New York : William Morrow, c2012.
  • Description: 342 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
  • ISBN 13: 9780061876844 (trade)
  • ISBN 10: 0061876844 (trade)
  • LC classification: G530.T6 D35 2012
  • Summary: While many accounts of the Titanic's voyage focus on the technical or mechanical aspects of why the ship sank, Davenport-Hines follows the stories of the men, women, and children whose lives intersected on the vessel's fateful last day.
  • Contents: Prologue: From Greenland's icy mountains -- On land. Boarding ; Speed ; Shipowners ; Shipbuilders ; Sailors -- At sea. First class ; Second class ; Third class ; Officers and crew -- Life and death.Collision ; The meaning shows in the defeated thing.
  • LC Subjects: Titanic (Steamship)--History. Shipwrecks--North Atlantic Ocean--History.
  • Browse by shelf order: G530.T6
  • Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [313]-324) and index.
  • LCCN: 2011014190
  • Dewey class no.: 910.9163/4
  • Geographic area code: ln-----
  • Type of material: Book
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