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James Bancroft

Teoksen Rorke's Drift: The Zulu War, 1879 tekijä

18 teosta 65 jäsentä 3 arvostelua

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Includes the name: James W. Bancroft

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Thanks to NetGalley and Pen & Sword publishers for this review copy!

The author has a great mind for detail and is widely respected for his prolific library on many historical events.

The focus of this particular book is the myths, legends, and especially omens surrounding the maiden voyage of the leviathan cruise ship Titanic. The author has done extensive research on people’s premonitions, dreams, psychic fortune-telling, and curses that have become known.

While extremely interesting (and full of doom and gloom), I feel that a lot of these accounts may or may not be verifiable. Just as ephemeral as Titanic’s voyage, these stories may be taken with a grain of salt. I’m not saying that this is completely fiction, as quite a few of the stories can be proven, as there are survivor’s tales of their experience in the frigid water; plus, the author gives a biography of many people mentioned in the book. Some went down with the ship, while others respected their unease and did not board the great ship. What I found most eerie were the number of stories written about a giant ocean liner and her tragic ending BEFORE Titanic sailed. Some of the ship’s names in these fictitious tales were unsettlingly similar to the doomed ship, such as the book entitled FUTILITY (authored by Morgan Andrew Robertson in 1898) about a fictitious ship named Titan. Incredibly enough, in this story, Titan hits an iceberg and doesn’t have sufficient lifeboats for the passengers. The shipwreck occurs in April and the Titan sinks 400 nautical miles from Newfoundland – both details mirroring Titanic’s imperiled voyage.

One of the more unsettling superstitions concerns the mummy case of the Egyptian High Priestess Amen-Ra. It was said that anyone who gazed into her face (which was painted onto a wooden “mummy-board” or inner coffin lid) would suffer agonizing consequences. Supposedly it was on board as Titanic set off on her voyage and was responsible for her accident and sinking.

This book is naturally heavy with facts and figures, along with conjectures and hearsay. I did learn a lot more about Titanic and her passengers, and of course, the omens were amazing and creepy. I am not a believer in psychic energy, but the author does a wonderful job of bringing everything together as the book progresses. Each chapter discusses these myths and truths from multiple angles, adding more layers to a tale that most of us are familiar with. Titanic was a legendary ocean liner, and she deserves all the attention she has been getting. This book will be a terrific addition to the library of the Titanic – obsessed readers. Whether or not you believe in all the myths put forth here doesn’t matter. You will be entertained, shocked, and fascinated as you read on. May all the poor souls who perished rest in peace.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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kwskultety | Jul 4, 2023 |
I love all things Titanic and enjoyed the stories shared in this book. While most of the information about the Titanic is known, they are but facts. What I treasure are the true life, personal accounts from the ship. These are things that shape perspective. What makes a tragedy such as that of the Titanic feel real and personal.

Kudos to the author.
 
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Jynell | 1 muu arvostelu | Feb 24, 2022 |
Titanic - 'Iceberg Ahead' by James W Bancroft offers a slightly different view of the tragedy than many other books, one I think of as more personal.

While I have, like so many others, read a number of books about the sinking of the Titanic as well as watched some documentaries (and yes, even two different movies) I haven't committed a lot of the details to memory. In other words, I am far from one of those who can recite numbers, times, and all of the other details. My familiarity with it is decent but not great. I mention this because I came to this book expecting to be overloaded with all of the small details of how and why the accident happened, which is interesting but frankly has been done to death (thus my lack of interest in remembering all of it). I was, instead, pleasantly surprised by how this book is organized.

Rather than being about the ship and the accident with people mentioned when necessary, this was about the people. Those involved in building and sailing the ship as well as passengers. We do get the story and enough of the details to still be in awe of the size and perceived invincibility of it, but the people are front and center here. What they thought, how they felt, and some small biographic material about many of them. By using their words the emotional pain of losing a father, for example, hits much harder than simply being told passengers lost relatives. The helplessness of knowing a father is onboard as you watch it go down is made more real when we get her words.

I recommend this to readers who always wonder, when reading about any historical event, what the people actually were thinking and what happened to them after the event. My heart went out to so many of these people in a far more personal way than even the movies elicited.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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pomo58 | 1 muu arvostelu | Feb 4, 2021 |

Listat

Tilastot

Teokset
18
Jäseniä
65
Suosituimmuussija
#261,994
Arvio (tähdet)
4.0
Kirja-arvosteluja
3
ISBN:t
39

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