I thoroughly appreciate an author who can take a real historical event and make it feel like page-turner of a novel. Erik Larson is one of the few who can accomplish this. This is my second of his books -- I really enjoyed "Isaac's Storm". "Dead Wake" is a great tale from beginning to end. I learned quite a lot about WWI. The really dramatic events don't happen until more than halfway through the book. Larson sets up the entire story by giving intimate accounts of the various people travelling on board the Lusitania, the current events and conditions (regarding safety and political climate) in the Atlantic, and lots of detail on the captain of the Lusitania and the captain of the German u-boat U20. The U-boat captain eventually sinks something like 160,000 tons of ship during that war. I'm amazed at how much writing people did back in that era, of journals, diaries, letters. Larson digs up so many details of the passengers and the atmosphere on board the ship, you almost feel like you are there. It is a truly engaging story of the sinking of a huge passenger liner during WWI, prior to the USA's entrance to the war. As a side story, we get a view into the personal life of President Woodrow Wilson. Highly recommended!
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