Book Review | Curse of The Narrows: The Halifax Disaster of 1917

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It's 1917 and the port at Halifax is beyond crowded. Ships have constantly been on their way to Europe since the UK's declaration of war on August 4th, 1914. While Canada determined for itself how much military and financial support it would give, there was no question that support would be provided.

But this day, December 6th, would be different. Two ships, the Mont Blanc and the Imo, would collide in the Narrows. Called such because of a hard-to-navigate stretch of the harbor, the ships should never have even been close to one another.

Yet they were, and the result of the collision would have devastating consequences for the entire city. The Imo would survive, despite severe structural damage. Massive repairs would be made and the Imo would return to service in 1918.

The Mont Blanc, though? That one didn't stand a chance.

From the collision, she burned quickly and rammed into the city's docks. Initially bound for Europe with a cargo of 2,700 tons of explosives, the captain and crew abandoned the ship at once, rowing for Dartmouth across the harbor and trying to warn everyone of what was to come. Thousands at the shore crowded with homes and businesses were already watching the fires burn, and at 9:05 AM, said fires reached the explosives packed carefully within the hold.

The result was an explosion with such force that all 3,000+ tons of iron that was the Mont Blanc was immediately vaporized in a cloud that shot into the sky over 2,000 feet high. Not only was much of the city flattened by the blast, but the blast created a massive wave that drenched the decimated and bewildered city. Not a single building in Halifax, or within a 16-mile radius, was left undamaged. An estimated 2,000 people were killed (different reports give different numbers) instantly, while another 9,000 were injured. Of those injured, another 300 would succumb to their injuries later.

On top of all of this devastation, a blizzard would arrive the following morning, completely isolating Halifax from any help from the outside world.

It's so difficult to wrap one's head around just how big this explosion was - the largest pre-atomic explosion in history. The anchor of the Mont Blanc landed some two miles away. The explosion was heard as far away as Boston, Massachusetts, when a fishing boat returned to the harbor there and inquired about the explosion they'd heard. The cloud of smoke was visible to ships more than fifty miles away.

The author describes in great detail each small event that happened, one after the other, in this massive chain of things that should NOT have happened, that resulted in such terrible death and destruction. Mac Donald does not stop there though. She shares how a massive relief mission set out from Boston almost immediately, despite not knowing the exact nature of the damage or even what was needed to help. Even with communication pretty much cut off completely, there was no hesitation. Food and water, clothing, money, building materials (especially glass - not a single window was left in Halifax after the explosion), doctors, medication, and volunteers headed northeast, ready to do whatever necessary to help a community in need.

The sheer volume and magnitude of injuries and causes of death were overwhelming. As mentioned previously, not a single window was left in Halifax. Much of that glass was embedded in the victims - including in their eyes. I can not stress enough how many eyes were removed due to this. The author goes into great detail. Buckets-ful of eyes. No anesthesia except ether, sometimes. We're talking HUNDREDS of severe eye injuries. Roughly 250 eye removals occurred to prevent infection, with sixteen people losing both eyes. The majority of those hundreds had partial vision loss due to the glass.

Scores of bodies were recovered, though many could not be identified due to the damage inflicted by the blast. The massive tsunami dragged dozens of witnesses and sailors back into the freezing water to drown. Others were crushed in collapsed buildings, mutilated by flying debris, or consumed by the raging fires.

Naturally when something of this magnitude occurs, there is the need to assign blame. Someone had to have caused this. While the captain and pilot of the Imo were killed in the collision, the captain and pilot of the Mont Blanc survived and were able to give their accounts of what happened in the moments before the fatal collision. Investigations, both judicial and military, were conducted and came to the same conclusions.

First of course, is that the two ships never should have gotten as near to one another as they did in the first place, regardless of what was on board. Both investigations ultimately decided blame was to be placed equally on the pilot and captain of the Mont Blanc, and the pilot and captain of the Imo. While the latter were both killed, the former were never indicted and there would be no actual trials to decide innocence or guilt. There was also the issue of the whistles from both ships, sending contradictory and misinterpreted signals to one another. The Imo had moved into the Mont Blanc's shipping lane to avoid a smaller vessel in its own, which caused more confusion. And of course there is the issue of the Mont Blanc not flying a red flag to indicate explosives were on board. However, maritime law at the time stated the flag only needed to be flown when loading or unloading cargo, not while in transit. As the Mont Blanc was moving to the harbor to join an Allied convoy, they were not required to fly it - nor would they have, as German u-boats were certainly on the look-out for just such flags.

The author does a masterful job recreating the horrific events of the day and documenting everything that came after. It is a riveting story of both catastrophic loss and enduring hope as people came together to bury their dead and rebuild their community.

Highly recommended.

NetGalley ARC | Maiden Voyages: Magnificent Ocean Liners and the Women Who Traveled and Worked Aboard Them

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐

I probably would have given this four stars, or at least three and a half, if I would not have had to read about the journey of the mother of the worst president in the history of the United States.

Aside from that drivel, this was a book packed with tons of interesting anecdotes and gossip and I feel the author did a fantastic job portraying life at sea for these women and how their work evolved over time.

I enjoy this period of travel. I love that the author focuses specifically on women and how they made a living on the massive liners that once ran regularly between the US and Europe.

I appreciate that she focused on a a wide variety of women, from all walks of life. We read of celebrities, artists, and the wealthy travelling for pleasure, migrants and refugees seeking safety and a new life, as well as the women who worked for the great shipping companies, sending their wages back home to help care for parents and siblings.

I found women on the crew to be of the most interest to me. I admire these women who worked these long, hard hours at sea to provide for their families. Violet Jessop is mentioned here and I absolutely recommend her autobiography, which I wrote about HERE. Not only did Violet survive the sinking of Titanic, but not long after she survived the sinking of the Britannic (Titanic's sister ship) as well. Her book is a wonderful look into her life, in which the famous and not-so-famous shipwrecks play but a small part. She had even been aboard the Olympic in 1911 when it collided with the HMS Hawke.

There were times when the narrative was very slow and felt like a slog. This could be a personal thing, as we learn plenty about those who travelled by liner because they had the money to do so, sailing back and forth between the Old World and the New. Still, it did take me a bit to finish this one and some passages and stories were not nearly as interesting as others.

There were times when the book became a bit repetitive as well, especially when stories were similar. Not always, but enough to be noticeable.

I never really thought about until this book, just how critical this work was for women who sought independence and a way to support themselves. To say that it changed countless lives would not be an overstatement. Slowly but surely, as women began travelling more, the need for stewardesses arose to help tend to them aboard the ships. That role of stewardess even evolved over time as some women were able to become conductresses and coordinate activities for the passengers. And then as two world wars came, women were able to stay aboard as nurses and continue to make a life for themselves.

Overall I appreciate the author's work and the research that went into the book. She's given a voice to many women who otherwise might remain unknown to us today.

The Assassins

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

This book was provided to me by the author, Alan Bardos, free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

I am almost embarrassed to admit how little I really know about World War I. But, think back to your own education - particularly if you are from the United States. How much did you really learn about the start of the war, about any of it prior to the US joining the conflict and being the 'rescuers' so to speak? All I recall from high school or college was that an assassin (never named), killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Hapsburg Empire and within a month Europe was engulfed in war.

I first started to remedy this lack of knowledge when I stumbled upon 'Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War', a travelogue by Tim Butcher. In it I finally learned (or possibly relearned) the name Gavrilo Princip, the young man determined to free his country of what he saw as an oppressive regime in the Hapsburg family. Despite the fact that this young man and his compatriots planned and carried out a terrible deed that indirectly or directly, depending on your point of view, results in the deaths of nearly twenty million soldiers and civilians, it is hard to not have a little sympathy for him.. Since then, I meandered my way back to my more typical fare of British history before 1600, and not read much else about The Great War.

This changed about a week ago when an author contacted me and requested I review his book. it was historical fiction, so I did hesitate a bit, but decided that given my coming-and-going interest in the topic, I would give it a try. I was not disappointed. Not, at least in the actual content of the book and the plot. I was HIGHLY disappointed in the absolutely infuriating main character, Johnny Swift, but don't you worry, I will get to him in a moment.

The book follows the fictional character of nineteen year old Johnny Swift, who is employed as a clerk at the British embassy in Paris. He made the dangerous mistake of having an affair with his superior's wife. Not only that, he's gambled away a large sum of Sir George's money with her in Monte Carlo. As a punishment, and in the hopes Johnny will get himself killed while on assignment, Sir George sends his wayward clerk off to see what information he can get about the Young Bosnians and their plans to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand in order to free themselves from Hapsburg rule.

Entwined in Johnny's story are two incredibly important perspectives of the period - that of the Archduke, and his murderer. We see as all three men make decisions that will ultimately lead them to that day, at that time, on Appel Quay, in one fateful moment. We see Gavrilo and his fellow conspirators working together, plotting diligently, even arguing and eventually making final preparations. We also see Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, even small glimpses of them with their three young children before leaving for Sarajevo.

Swift manages to gain the trust of the assassins and becomes a member of the group. He has not, however, lost his poor decision-making skills despite the high stakes. His contact is a man by the name of Lazlo Breitner, a Hungarian man who had been all but banished to his current job due to a previous dishonorable association with a corrupt official who had been allowed to commit suicide rather than face the consequences of his crimes. Johnny keeps himself from being discovered as a spy, right up to the assassination, and after...and the rest is history.

I knew very little about Ferdinand or Sophie before this. I certainly did not know their background, how the marriage was so despised by his family. It was very easy to become sympathetic to the Archduke for this, and as he is shown with his wife and family in the days leading up to the trip. Even though this is a fictionalized account, it is still heartbreaking as he and Sophie leave their children to go on a trip he did not want to take in the first place. I guess there is some comfort in the fact that Ferdinand and Sophie were able to die together, though still tragic that they left three young children behind. Prior to this, I did not have much of a picture of Ferdinand in my head relating to his personal life. I kind of viewed him much like Princip would have - part of this oppressive government that did not allow freedom to the people. While this is a work of fiction, it certainly helped see another side of the Archduke.

Johnny Swift is entirely fiction, and thank goodness for that. I could not stand him. From the start he is arrogant and selfish and a total weasel for stealing both Sir George's wife and money. I did not much care for Libby either, Sir George's wife. I get that they were both young, but what a meaningless existence she had, just hanging around in Monte Carlo and wasting her husband's money, then traipsing from spa to spa and whatever random old moneyed guy she could find when she grew bored with Johnny. I honestly do not know who was worse. Libby disappears for a while and I found myself in those times wanting Johnny to be successful in his mission. I can't say anything else without giving away some things, but she shows up at the worst time and makes Johnny a terrible person all over again, just when I thought he could be a little redeemed. Again, being fiction, I knew he could not stop the assassination, but I was hoping for some effort.

I found the chapters focused on Gavrilo and his fellow conspirators just as enthralling as those relating to Ferdinand. There really is so little information available about these young men, to see them come to life even just a little bit is quite fascinating. I am torn on how I feel about Princip especially, being the one who actually committed the murders. I touched on this in my review of 'Trigger' as well. He had no way of knowing his actions would bring about such a tidal wave of death and misery in the following four years, he was doing what he had always done his whole life - be the little guy, standing up to those who he viewed as the bullies. He repeatedly refers to Ferdinand in the book as 'the tyrant'.

Now, logically of course, this book can only end one way. Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie will be shot on Appel Quay by Princip, they will die, and this spark will ignite the entire world. I also know this was historical fiction, not speculative fiction, so it had to stick to the real events. This means Johnny could not REALLY have done anything to stop the assassination, but come on! What a self-centered dope!

Overall I was very pleasantly surprised with how much I really got into this novel and wanted to see how Johnny would handle the situations he was thrown into. I had no idea what to expect, but the author did his research and it shows. I always appreciate when an author leaves a note for his or her readers, when they have used real people from history. As I read through this note, I was pleased not only to see the author used books that I have on my to-read list, but to see a few texts as well that I had not yet heard of. I enjoyed the multiple perspectives, especially as Johnny began his mission and was interacting with the group. I only wish he could have been successful and there is a brief moment where you think, despite logically knowing better, that he might actually be able to save the royal couple. But it is not to be. I definitely recommend this one to those who enjoy historical fiction, but who have a special interest in World War I.

Kings & Queens of England, a Dark History: 1066 to Present Day

Rating: 1.5 Stars

Review:

I will keep this short and not so sweet because this book was not good. I try not to, but I sometimes can not help but take offense when I see historical figures I love so dearly and/or highly respect either much-maligned or simply presented wholly inaccurately by an author who could not bother to do five seconds of research. I like the 'Dark History' series in general, though it is nothing spectacular and you will find no new information contained in them. But what I found here was worse. This book was gossipy and sensationalized. it was poorly written and riddled with inaccuracies. There is nothing 'dark' about this history that is flat out wrong in many places. She refers to Catherine Parr as Henry VIII's "Finally, an enduring love" as one heading, which is laughable, considering she wanted to marry Seymour all along. Anne of Cleves was apparently "ugly, skinny and loud-mouthed" - news to me since I did not know you could be a loud-mouth in a country where you did not even speak the language. She is especially nasty to two Scots in particular, Mary and then her son James VI. First, Mary is described as being an, "ignorant, foolish, indiscreet airhead" who "managed to do almost everything wrong and was certainly not the queen 16th century Scotland needed." This could not be more wrong. Without a doubt, Mary made some very stupid decisions. But by all accounts in the short years she did rule, she worked to maintain a balance between her Protestant-turning country and herself. Much has been written about Mary not enjoying her studies but that does not make her an airhead and she was still well-spoken and educated. Her son James does not fair much better. The author refers to him as "creepy", with "spindly legs" a tongue "too big for his mouth...He drooled. He did not wash very often...He looked scruffy because he dressed so badly." It has been documented time and again that James looked oddly in his dress due to the many layers he wore to protect against an assassin. Yes, apparently his tongue was awkward and he was awkward but come on. All this book amounts to is a trashy gossip magazine in hardcover form. PASS!

The English and Their History

Rating: 3 Stars

Rating:

This book is exhausting. So exhausting, in fact, that I am not even sure I can review it properly. I have read more than my fair share of books. One might say reading is my 'thing'. I am especially fond of that little island now called England and its amazing history, going way back to the Iron Age people, through Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxons, the Normans, the Plantagenets, and the Tudors. Beyond that, my interest starts to wane. In the past with books about the history of England, I have always given up a bit after James VI/I. Sometimes I make it through the execution of his son, Charles I, but rarely. I vowed this time, with this one, to make it through. And so I did. Barely.

So, this one began in what is typically still referred to as the Dark Ages, despite our knowledge of the time growing more clear all the time with new discoveries. The Anglo-Saxons and Alfred are possibly my most favorite of the eras in England's history, so it is always nice to see him given his due. Alfred is, after all, the only king in the country's history to be called 'the Great'.

My concerns with the book come very early on though, as I feel there were many aspects of England's history that were glossed over or not mentioned at all from those early years, in favor of much more material covering the last two hundred years. For example, while we see Edgar Aetheling mentioned, there is almost zilch about his grandfather Edmund Ironside and his brief co-reign with Cnut - it is generally thought that Edmund was murdered by or on Cnut's orders so he could assume complete power. Subsequently there is nothing about Ironside's sons who were spirited out of the country and Cnut's reach. That in itself is a fascinating story and deserved a place. The course of history might look very different for England had someone aside from William I become king. There were many other times that this lack of detail jumped out at me - perhaps because these are among the time periods I know best. The author calls the circumstances of William II's (William Rufus) death 'mysterious', but does not fully elaborate. It is considered mysterious for a number of reasons, considering he was shot in the chest with an arrow and the culprit left the scene immediately - while Henry I (his younger brother, the youngest son) headed straight for the treasury to secure it and the crown, effectively stealing it from Robert who was next in line. Further more, it was strange to me that the author considered Matilda (Henry I's daughter) the antagonist in the civil war between her and her cousin Stephen. When Matilda's brother Henry died on the White Ship, she became the only legitimate heir. At least twice Henry I made his nobles swear an oath to support Matilda's claim as queen, but given the fact that there had never been a queen who ruled in her own right, as soon as Henry I was dead they naturally (for the time period) looked elsewhere. Stephen was the usurper, the antagonist, though Matilda certainly did herself no favors by alienating some who she needed support from. In the end, Stephen agreed for Matilda's son to become king as Henry II, despite Stephen having a son of his own. So began the 300 year rule of the Plantagenets.

There was very little attention given to another of my favorites - Eleanor of Aquitaine. She is hardly mentioned, and only as Henry II's wife. We get a glimpse but that is it and no where does it say that without her gathering the ransom, her son Richard I would likely never have been released from prison. While Richard cared very little for England and preferred his lands in Aquitaine, or the Holy Land on Crusade, him being overthrown by John even earlier could have caused even more destruction.

By the time we get to Elizabeth, all of my favorite periods were covered. This amount to roughly 200 pages out of nearly 900 (1,000 if you count the end notes, index, etc). For the rest of the time it was pretty rough going for me, because it just does not hold my interest the way early England does. I truly don't even understand it myself, how I can be totally enthralled by the first 1,600 years and not care one iota about the last 400. But I was determined to slog on through. As a result, it took me a while and I frequently set it aside for something else. I have to be quite honest and admit I skimmed the Industrial Revolution. Glad it happened and all, but it is a terrible snooze to read about.

I found the Victorian era more interesting to read about this time around, so perhaps there is hope for that in the future. World War I and World War II were great reads from the English perspective, as anything I have read about them in the past have been strictly from an American viewpoint. Throughout the book there were tons of maps to aid the reader with the text, which I have always found especially helpful when discussing battles and troop movements. My only real complaint about WWI material involves the omission of Gavrilo Princip. You may not recognize the name, as so often he is simply referred to as 'the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand'. I feel like it is a disservice to history that his name is routinely ignored. Like it or not, for better or worse, hi actions set of a chain of events that culminated in The Great War, which in turn lead directly to WWII.

I can't speak for the accuracy of the rest of the text due to my limited knowledge of those eras, but I at least found them somewhat engaging - enough to continue reading anyway. This is certainly not a book I would consider as my first if I knew nothing about England's history. It is quite the endeavor and not one to enter into lightly if you are looking for a quick read. On the other hand, if you are more interested in the time periods after the Tudors that are less interesting to me, then this may just be the book for you, as that is the bulk of the material.

100 Documents That Changed the World: From the Magna Carta to WikiLeaks

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Review:

I really love books like this, the '50 Objects..." or "12 Maps..." that 'changed the world' type books. This book is no exception, as it covered several documents that truly did change the world, for better or worse. While I disagree somewhat with some of the items included ('War and Peace' and '1984' - I do not consider books to be documents per se), the majority really do help the book live up to its name. How can you go wrong when writing about Magna Carta, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Apollo 11 Flight Plan, and Anne Frank's diary in one volume?

Turns out, you can. Or, at least not 'go wrong', but you can be lacking in detail and description at times. I understand this is not meant to be exhaustive, seeing as how it is quite slim to begin with, so I will get my complaints out of the way before I delve further in to discuss some of the specific documents addressed that I felt were among the most important. There is only one actual page of textual information devoted to each document, though that page often included a small picture of those who signed, witnessed, wrote, etc. the document. The opposite page was usually a picture of the document itself. Additionally, for a good portion of the beginning, nearly all of the documents were from Western Europe. Not all, but a good majority. Surely there were other important documents that could have been included from around the world and not just those few.

Now, to the documents I found most fascinating - it is also kind of embarrassing to admit that I did not know some of the facts I learned from this text. In my defense perhaps we were not taught those aspects in school? So many of these documents today exist now in the National Archives and I wish desperately to see them - namely the Fort Sumter Telegram announcing they were surrendering, and the Emancipation Proclamation. These were two hugely important documents that exist as a testament to the resolve of our young country - we were willing to go to war with ourselves to achieve the ends we wanted. The telegram began the war and the proclamation set us on the road to ending it. As an aside, I never knew that the E.P. ONLY freed slaves who were living in the states that had succeeded from the Union - AND applied only to those held by the Confederacy. So, apparently it was a shrug and a 'sorry' to the slaves living in areas recaptured by the Union, or the nearly 500,000 living in those border states who had not succeeded.

I am curious about the exclusion of the Gettysburg Address as an important document and thought perhaps it was excluded due to the inclusion of the Emancipation Proclamation. But both Martin Luther's 95 Theses were included, followed directly by the Edict of Worms. Those documents were separated by only four years, but concerned the same topic, so not sure why Lincoln's famous speech was not considered important enough?

Fun Fact: Apparently our Founding Fathers were not terribly responsible. The original copy of the Constitution had vanished at some point after its signing and no one knew where it was until 1846! Also, it has only been on display since 1952; I didn't realize it was such a short amount of time when I visited in 8th grade on a class trip.

A little dirty laundry gets aired here in the form of which states ratified the 19th Amendment and when - you keep it classy Mississippi, not ratifying until 1984. I am not surprised that many southern states were among the last to ratify it.

The 15 year old girl in me who will forever love Titanic could not help but be wistfully glad to see the inclusion of Titanic telegrams included as important documents that changed the world. Movie references aside, it really was a wake-up call to these shipping companies that safety measures needed to change and improve to avoid another tragedy on such a scale.

There were several documents relating to World War I and II, which should come as no surprise. The Treaty of Versailles is always troubling to me, as it basically assured that there would be another war - how could there not be? Germany was forced to take all the responsible for the Great War, only for the fact that they were the last ones standing when the war came to an end. It should shock no one that the Nazis were able to rise and grab power so swiftly; the treaty was crushing and the reparations were impossible.

When I think of a document, I think of something of the non-fiction, factual variety. This is why I struggle with the inclusion of books - manuscripts - in this text. However, I feel that Anne Frank's diary certainly deserves its place. The importance of this diary can not be overstated and if you do not believe me, try standing in the Annex and imagining living in this cramped space with seven other people, the majority of whom you struggle regularly to even get along with. It is one of the most humbling experiences I have ever had in my life and could not imagine spending two years in that place. Anne's diary gave a voice to the millions who had theirs cruelly and violently taken away. I did NOT like, however, that Miep Gies was simply referred to as the 'family friend' who later saved Anne's diary after the family had been taken away. Even with the focus being on the document itself, surely Miep deserves much more credit than that.

There were so many documents that I found interesting, I could keep writing for a while. I will finish this up with reference to a certain CIA document, dated August 6th, 2001, that stated very clearly an attack on the US by bin Laden was imminent. Unfortunately, this memo was handed to one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of our country, while he was staying at his ranch in Texas. You know, one of his 406 vacation days taken in his presidency, or some absurd number that the GOP conveniently likes to forget whenever they complain about Obama playing a round of golf. As a follow-up, the Iraq War Resolution was included but I couldn't even bother to read such garbage.

So, overall, this really is 3.5 stars. There were so many documents that belonged here, but at times their importance almost felt diminished simply because often only the bare facts were included. It is by no means a be-all, end-all for any of these documents and while I can recommend reading this one, I would also suggest further reading on any of the documents that interest you.

London: A History

Author: Francis Sheppard

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Review:

Naturally I found the early sections of the book far more interesting, as they pertained to the periods in England's history that I know and love so well. Unfortunately those sections as a whole only made up the first roughly third of the book, so it took a little more willpower to continue after saying goodbye to my beloved Anglo-Saxons, Plantagenets, and Tudors in regards to their relationships with London. I generally enjoy city biographies but I think what made this one so different for me is that I am also highly interested in very specific time periods in England, so later chapters (mainly from the Stuarts after James I and beyond) felt much heavier and slower to me, despite of course the writing style changing not at all.

It is interesting to me to watch cities slowly evolve into the places we know them as today. Having been to London myself, albeit an incredibly short venture due to a long delay out of Edinburgh, I can't even imagine it being anything than the bustling city it is today. I can't wait to go back and spend the time there that the city deserves, to see all the places still standing where so many of these great and terrible leaders stood, worked, slept, etc.

While the Victorian and Edwardian eras were more than a bit sluggish for me, my interest was piqued at the transformation of the city during the German air raids of WWII. So much of my past study of WWII focused on Germany, I truly had no idea the devastation and loss of life inflicted on London. It amazes me that so many palaces and castles survived, while countless citizens were left homeless. I can't even imagine sleeping in a bunk bed in the subway. Like many, I might have just taken the risk of sleeping at home.

Overall, this is a highly researched, thus very academic, work. At times even the periods of most interest to me were dry. Still, it's very informative and I can say I do recommend it.

The Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War

NOTE: I see the title has been changed. The title of my blog post is the original title of the book. I am not sure when Butcher changed the book title, but I can imagine why. The book was more about Tim's journey following in Gavro's footsteps than about Gavro himself.

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

I must first say I was a little disappointed by parts of this book. I began reading with the hopes of it being a biography of Gavrilo Princip, but soon realized there's simply too little information about him known for a full length book dedicated solely to him. I enjoyed the history of the land he called home, the place he loved and dreamed could be free from outside rule.

What I could have done without was Butcher's interspersing of stories during his own coverage of the war in the early-mid 90s. I don't feel it added much to Princip's story. It felt unnecessary and just filler - especially since the whole premise of the book was supposed to be following Princip's path as he moved toward infamy.

The thing is, and the reason I chose this book to begin with, I'm not sure I even recall learning his name in school when learning about events leading up to WW1. Simply, an assassin shot the Archduke and his wife, and so came war.

I feel a particular sadness for Princip's descendants, carving out their existence in the small village where Gavro was born. I like that he is referred to affectionately, that at least his family still remembers to carry in his name - especially because everyone else in his country seems to prefer to forget him.

I find the last know photograph of Princip on page 286 truly haunting. Here he is not angry or defiant, as he'd been described previously. He seems resigned to the fact that despite the twenty year sentence, he will die in prison. It is a sad end for someone who dreamed of bringing about such a change for his people, for them to be free.

However, it can not be forgotten that this action spawned not one, but two world wars. There is simply no way Hitler could have come to power had Germany not been so slowly and painfully dying under the weight of the reparations she was forced to make.

Still Princip could not have known that these few bullets would ultimately mean the death of millions over the course of the next 30 years, from WW1 through WW2. He was simply doing what he had always done, as he'd been described by those who knew him: he was the little guy, standing up for those who could not stand up for themselves, standing up to the bullies.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

Author: Erik Larson

Rating: 5 Stars

Before I start, I must say I have been waiting ever so (im)patiently for this book to arrive. I started it the very night I checked it out and finished it the next. I could hardly put it down, and luckily I only had to do that once, as I finished it in two sittings. Wonderfully, heartbreakingly written. Fantastic work, Mr. Larson.

Review:

After having read Devil in the White City, I knew in the future I'd always put every other book on pause for a new Erik Larson book. That's exactly what happened with this one, and it did not disappoint. From starting it last night to finishing it tonight, it took me only about four hours to read. I could not put it down, even though many times I wanted to. I could not bear the thought of all those little ones going into the sea, of the possibility of Robert Kaye's mother giving birth in the water - something that haunted him the rest of his life - of little Betty, who did not survive despite her mother's attempt. It just makes my heart hurt to think of the children who were separated from their parents in the chaos. We can only hope that death came quickly and that they did not suffer - though we also get the impression that was not the case.

It infuriates me beyond belief the behavior of Room 40. They wanted the Lusitania to be attacked because American deaths would bring America into WWI. Yet Wilson waited another TWO YEARS before finally declaring war on Germany. All those deaths were in vain, all those children, I honestly can hardly even think of it. I realize that perhaps my extra sensitivity comes from being a parent myself to a small child who I love more than anything in this world, and it would destroy me completely should anything ever happen to her, as it must've destroyed these families who lost their children. 

As always, Larson delivers an engaging story filled with facts. He weaves the narrative together so seamlessly, it reads like a novel and I wish it were, but sadly we know that's not true. Larson has clearly done the research and the book drew me in further and further as the Lusitania glided speedily toward her doom, the fate that Room 40 and U-20 had assigned her.

I've lost quite a bit of respect I had for Churchill, not only for his remarks that merchant ships are 'on their own' (LIE! - what about the Orion and several other ships who had been given escorts?!) and also the treatment of Captain Turner and the attempts to fault him for the tragedy. First and foremost, this was murder committed by Germany and Captain Schwieger and his crew. Secondly, escorts had been provided to countless other ships in the area, yet somehow the Lusitania did not merit the same attention, despite it being obvious she was a target.

Any review can never come close to doing this book and subject justice. Larson is a talented writer who delivers an awesome and awful story; well worth the wait