Dead Wake: the last crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

Erik Larsen puts his mastery of penning parallel narratives on display as he tells the tale of the sinking of the Lusitania by a German submarine, building an ever-growing sense of dread as the two vessels draw closer to their lethal meeting.

Larson’s latest work of narrative non-fiction uses historical records, letters, and journal entries to tell the story of Unterseeboot-20 and its captain Walther Schwieger, the crew and passengers aboard the luxury transatlantic liner the Lusitania, and the political buildup to World War I.

By piecing together how politics, economics, technology, and even the weather combined to produce an event that seemed both unlikely and inevitable, he offers a fresh look at a world-shaking disaster.