Titanic : A Night Remembered

Rating:
Summary: This is an editorial book not meant for facts.
Review: Her tone is brash and her words are served on acid-laced sandpaper. As an editorial that relies heavily on editorials for material, it is a good and provocative read. However, her constant American-bashing gets very old very quickly especially in this day and age when I hear how much the world hates us on a regular basis on the news. I can appreciate where she is coming from but question why. If she is trying to provoke debate, she does it well in a one-sided and opinionated manner. I question why she constantly puts down the country that employs her and why she seems to delight in calling American millionaires "plutocrats" even if they are not. I was hoping to see a thought-provoking debate on what happened (editorially and culturally speaking) on both sides of the Atlantic, both pros and cons. Instead, she sticks to a very narrow British point of view.

While I would be willing to praise her taking the side of the disaster not often heard in America, I find it increasingly hard to give her any merit or credibility when she cannot get the simplest of facts straight. For instance, the ship's carpenter's name is John not Jim and it is well known by now that the photo she labels as being of John Jacob Astor is, in fact, not. Obvious errors aside, I find it a demerit in her favor that she relies heavily on Butler's Unsinkable.

While the book is an interesting and infuriating rant, it does not rise above editorializing what has become, whether the author likes it or not, a pop culture icon. As a historian, this book will reside in my collection. It is about Titanic and therefore automatically gets a place in my library. However, it will henceforth be taken out only to be used as a hard surface on which to place my notepaper or coffee whilst researching more credible sources.

Rating:
Summary: This is an editorial book not meant for facts.
Review: Her tone is brash and her words are served on acid-laced sandpaper. As an editorial that relies heavily on editorials for material, it is a good and provocative read. However, her constant American-bashing gets very old very quickly especially in this day and age when I hear how much the world hates us on a regular basis on the news. I can appreciate where she is coming from but question why. If she is trying to provoke debate, she does it well in a one-sided and opinionated manner. I question why she constantly puts down the country that employs her and why she seems to delight in calling American millionaires "plutocrats" even if they are not. I was hoping to see a thought-provoking debate on what happened (editorially and culturally speaking) on both sides of the Atlantic, both pros and cons. Instead, she sticks to a very narrow British point of view.

While I would be willing to praise her taking the side of the disaster not often heard in America, I find it increasingly hard to give her any merit or credibility when she cannot get the simplest of facts straight. For instance, the ship's carpenter's name is John not Jim and it is well known by now that the photo she labels as being of John Jacob Astor is, in fact, not. Obvious errors aside, I find it a demerit in her favor that she relies heavily on Butler's Unsinkable.

While the book is an interesting and infuriating rant, it does not rise above editorializing what has become, whether the author likes it or not, a pop culture icon. As a historian, this book will reside in my collection. It is about Titanic and therefore automatically gets a place in my library. However, it will henceforth be taken out only to be used as a hard surface on which to place my notepaper or coffee whilst researching more credible sources.