by Cathryn Prince
What a mess of a book. Okay where to begin? The jacket copy trumpets eyewitness sources but they're not really long enough to fill out this short book. In many places this thing reads like a stretched magazine article. The length is padded with superficial background material. Instead of providing context and often just got in the way.
The book is about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff Prince points out repeatedly that the loss of life was worse than the Titanic. Yes it's the largest ever maritime disaster. Curiously the actual sinking takes just one short chapter. We hear more about the individuals lives during World War II than anything else. There's also repeated statements that the history has been buried or somehow suppressed. No to my knowledge there have been at least two English-language books on the sinking although admittedly not in the last 30 years. Also the idea that the government would suppress discussion of it after the war seems strange.
The terrifying thing is that the book has some hilariously bad errors. That 5 seconds on Google should have obliterated from the text. This says something both about Prince and Palgrave Macmillan who really don't care at this point. For instance Regina is in Saskatchewan not Ontario. Contradictions between the eyewitness accounts aren't dealt with. Either pointed out or balanced. For instance just how many torpedoes hit the ship? At one point it says there were 69 people in a lifeboat but some of them fell off before they could be rescued. However several pages later it says that 70 people were rescued from the same lifeboat. So which is it? I understand this is a chaotic event that's being remembered 70 years on but at least try to deal with the contradiction. Part of the historians job is to come to a determination on these things.
The book concludes with a very abbreviated discussion of whether or not the sinking was justified. Considering that this was still during wartime where the ship was carrying at least some military personnel as well as sailing under blackout conditions. I am left completely baffled as to what exactly the Soviet submarine captain was supposed to do instead.
Not recommended avoid.
This was received through LibraryThing's early review program. Just think how much I would've hated it if I had to pay for it.
has produced in excellent narrative of the various attempts to sink the ship with naval surface ships, submarines and bombing. Even though he has a lot of ground to cover he never loses the thread down in the details. At the same time providing enough information for the reader. I didn't spot any thing I can nitpick as far as facts go.
this is a rather strange book. It's an introductory history of the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic wars. No knowledge is assumed at all. Terms like "striking the colors" are defined in the text. On the other hand it's an amazing 560 pages long which would be rather daunting for the newcomer. The authors are looking for colorful scenes as opposed to scholarly analysis. It's a decent narrative history although some of the snap judgments can be annoying. There's a brief further reading section. Contains notes and a bibliography.
this is simply put the gold standard in Nelson biographies. Knight works his way through Nelson's life in often excruciating detail dispelling myth after myth along the way. Even so what remains is the portrait of a great naval tactician. His character flaws jealousy and stubbornness are not ignored. Substantial appendices that contain biographies of important individuals, information on ships and a time line round out the book. Massive bibliography for further reading.
is a history of this forgotten campaign of the French Revolution. An alliance of the British, Spanish and royalist French took control of a key naval port of France. The book is particularly good at giving a summary of the French Navy both before and just after the outbreak of the French Revolution. I actually found this part to be the most enjoyable section of the book. The siege itself is dealt with almost as an afterthought. When mentioned in other books it's usually brought up to say that both Bonaparte and Nelson participated.
is an attempt to look at the effects of the slave trade on the continent of Africa. This is rather difficult since there aren't any African sources so History must be built out of the records kept by whites. The book covers the space of time from first contacts in the 15th century through the end of the slave trade in the 19th century. The argument is made that final abolishment came about not only from the pressure of the various religious societies but also resulted from the economic reality of the Industrial Revolution.
is a history of this famous action in the attempted Russian revolution of 1905. Bascomb starts out by saying that he is writing an unbiased history. Apparently he believes in the concept of a historian as an unbiased observer. This seems rather silly. The description of the treatment of the sailors prior to the mutiny is very well-done as well as the reaction of the Russian czar. However Bascomb tends to lean a little heavy on fictional reconstruction. There's internal monologue of individuals as well as a substantial amount of direct quotes. Much of these are not footnoted. The book contains short biographies of important individuals, notes and a large bibliography which I will be using to track down more material.
discusses the technology that assisted the European nations in creating their overseas empires in the nineteenth century. The book talks about weapons technology, steamships, antimalarial drugs, railways and submarine cables. The book isn't just a listing of technical specifications but also talks about the sociological effects. There's a section on further reading. 
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