Titanic

The Royal Mail Steamer Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic, costing 1,513 lives. The book marks the centenary of that night in 2012, when the ship had become the most famous vessel in the world. Had she never sailed, she would still have been overtaken as the largest liner within two years. She was neither the swiftest passenger ship of her era nor an especially innovative design, yet her story continues to fascinate people as few others have.

Roger Cartwright sorts through the many muddled myths that have grown up around the ship and traces the legacy that keeps her in public memory. He asks why Titanic was built and who truly owned her, and examines why no one was ever shown to be at fault. He also considers how modern travel has been made safer because of the disaster, and whether the lessons drawn from it have been the right ones.

The book also tackles some of the most familiar questions about the sinking. What music did the band play as the ship went down? Did an officer really take his own life? Was there a real Jack Dawson, the character made famous by the 1997 film?