Larson: It was, in fact, very valuable, because finding oneself in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is a singular sensation, one you cannot possibly grasp until you are actually there.

But it was the powerful details of the sinking - lifeboats falling on top of lifeboats, people getting sucked into the ship's funnels, the U-boat commander's War Log - that really startled me and persuaded me that I could bring something new to the historiography of the event.Ĭhapter 16: What it was it like crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2? How did the experience inform your book? I was surprised right off the mark by the fact that America didn't enter the war for two full years after the sinking, and that when President Wilson finally asked for a declaration that a state of war existed between America and Germany, he never once mentioned the Lusitania.

I think what most of us were taught, or at least absorbed, was that the Lusitania episode was the World War I equivalent of Pearl Harbor. Larson: Well in this case it didn't even take terribly deep research to realize there was more to the story of the Lusitania than I learned in high school. In 'Dead Wake,' readers are privy to the thoughts of Winston Churchill, the plans of U-boat captain Walther Schwieger, and many of the passengers and crew aboard the great British liner.Įrik Larson recently answered questions from Chapter 16 via email:Ĭhapter 16: Can you describe the research process, and some of the surprising facts it revealed? As with his previous bestselling historical works such as 'Isaac's Storm,' 'The Devil in the White City' and 'In the Garden of Beasts,' Larson organizes carefully researched facts around the characters at the heart of the story with all the skill of a suspense novelist.

(Photo: copyright Benjamin Benschneider)Įrik Larson's seventh book, 'Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania,' now out in paperback, follows the crew and passengers of the doomed ship, along with their German pursuers aboard the submarine U-20, toward their fateful meeting on May 7, 1915. Benjamin Benschneider Photography Erik Larson's latest telling of an historic event is 'Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania.' He'll be at CBU Friday night.

Dead wake book review