Published by Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, 1992, hardcover, illustrated, index, 228 pages, 30.2 cms x 28.8 cms x 2.5 cms, condition: basically as new.
The tragedy of the Titanic has been captured in fiction, nonfiction, music, poetry, cartoons, official judicial inquiry, survivors' recollections, still photography, TV shows, and film; all of the above are covered to some extent in this good and popular book. But few Titanic books match the paintings by Ken Marschall, a specialist on the subject whose work can be found in other books by the ship's discoverer, Robert Ballard, who wrote the introduction here. The photos are notable--including shots of the red-paint-stained iceberg that may have caused the sinking, the pristine ship, the sunken wreck, the people involved in the case--but Marschall's dozens of large-scale paintings really do help to dramatize and explicate moments no camera glimpsed and few eyewitnesses agree upon.
There is much to recommend the text, too. You could make a movie just about Second Officer Charles Lightoller, who helped accelerate the lifeboat-launching process, saving lives; stepped off the ship's bridge into the Atlantic; was sucked down into a ventilator taking in water, vainly swimming against its suction; and then got expelled by a blast of air, like a human cannonball in a circus, and landed next to a lifeboat that had been knocked 20 feet clear of the sinking ship's deadly whirlpool by a huge ship's funnel that crashed into the waves nearby. Lightoller was marvelously clever in his courtroom interrogation by an attorney determined to maneuver him into admitting blame for the disaster.
There is much more history in between the dramatic illustrations, facts both grand and trivial--if you're bent on knowing what actually happened to the dogs aboard, the answer is in this book. Definitely one of the better titles dealing with Titanic. --Tim Appelo
The most beautiful, perfect and by far the best book about the history of the Titanic, her sinking and her wreck that exists today. Told by the best Titanic historian there is, Don Lynch, and filled with illustrations by none other than Ken Marschall, this is an absolute MUST HAVE for all those with a passion for the Titanic. I first came across this book in my aunt's house some time in 1997, and I devoured it for as long as I could before I had to go back home with my mom. I talked about this book non-stop for months, and my aunt, knowing how passionately I felt about it, purchased me my own copy. It is probably my most treasured book. It's hard to get a hold of today and the price's people are asking for it are very high, but considering how amazing this book is, if you can afford it, go ahead and buy it, you will not regret it. I promise!
his was James Camerons main source for his film Titanic, and it shows, both in his imagery and writing, often not just sourced but out right copied form here pictures of the ship as it went down and lines such as the sheets had never been
