As with lots of Titanic books, ‘Unsinkable’ has had a ‘makeover’ to tie in with the 100 year anniversary what this amounts to is an extra chapter and a mention at the start.
If you have been reading about Titanic for a while you won’t read anything here that you haven’t read anywhere else, sadly. The writer is an American and writes with a strong US mind set. The Board of Enquiry (UK) is dismissed in favour of the Senate investigation. So huge swathes of information are lost to the reader.
The Captain Lord question is also badly researched and what could be a fascinating discussion is dismissed much too quickly. I acknowledge that shelves of books have already been written about the Californian so maybe this is the reason.
I found several errors in the book, which could be the result of shoddy research, inexcusable when just about everything is out there and freely available at the touch of a button.
Leading figures are reduced to one dimension, and given the Pantomime villain treatment. These were living breathing people, and you really need to try and get back to 1912 and lose the benefit of hindsight which so many writers seem to struggle with.
Contributors: Morag Irving BA (OPEN)., Dip.Lit. e-mail: moragirvinguk@aol.com Tel:01733 345581 Julian Bray MCIPR NUJ Equity Tel:01733 345581 2012 Anniversary RMS Titanic Illustrated Lecture Series now available, please enquire.
