Customer Reviews

The History of the White Star Line

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book covers the history of the White Star Line from the beginning of time. Not the most exciting read this year. The paper is of poor quality, seems to still have chunks of wood in it and the type face is not to my taste. The writing style is pedestrian at best. Lots of detail though, I haven't found any glaring errors, but you really have to be an ocean liner fanatic to get through this. Thankfully I am. For a more entertaining and interesting view, look for something by John Maxtone-Graham like The Only Way to Cross. J. P. Morgan's biographers also have lots of comments about White Star. Pictures are good, information is accurate as far as I know, but definitely not a page-turner.

While I do agree that it is not neccessarily a page turner, this book is accurate. The author spent a lot of time putting the research in this book. At times it does seem like a lot of facts strung together, but he keeps the timeline of events very well and I think its better to just state the facts at times rather than write a barage of opinions (let people draw their own conclusions). Anyone interested in shipping history would find this book interesting enough to maintain a focus. If you want this book because you are a Titanic fanatic, your money would be better spent on one of the author's other books which explores the POSSIBLITY of a conspiracy or another book dedicated solely to Titanic. Overall I thought the book was great, very informative and I learned a lot I didn't know before, especially about the very early years. Transatlantic and The White Star Line: An Illustrated History are great too.

Regrettably Gardiner's latest offering "History of the White Star Line" is little more than a poorly written chronology of largely disconnected events in the history of the famous shipping company. While apparently factual (in contrast to his earlier "Titanic Conspiracy" which suggested that Titanic had been secretly switched with her sister ship and intentionally sunk) I found "History of the White Star Line" to be a largely unreadable assembly of historical tidbits which seem as if a collection of unrelated newspaper clippings had been bound together and covered with a dust wrapper. His research seems to be adequate, however style and editing are largely nonexistent.

Because the previous reviews for this book have already hit the bullseye, I would like to chance tactics and propose a worthy alternative. "Transatlantic" by Stephan Fox is a well researched and well written history of all the major transatlantic lines. In addition to the history of the lines, his narratives give life and form to the people who owned them, built them, and sailed in them. "Transatlantic" not only explores the history and personalities that formed and sustained the White Star line, but carefully explains how the various lines interacted with and reacted to each other. It is a much better book and well worth reading in place of this one.

when i got this book i was expecting a detailed history of the the historic white star line ( and if i was lucky, a large number of photos and deck plans of some ships like the "big four" ) however what i got was stupid story (which, if true -
which i take with a good size pinch of salt) would have you think that in the appox. 90 years between the start of the line and it's takeover by cunard, the the line had been run by a group of men who would have more in common with the mob that with

normal businessmen (even by 19th century standards). i think this book was used to back up the art bell like story this writer has written about the titanic. the reason i give it even one star is that it does have some nice photo's - but they do not make up for the rest of the book - which is nothing more than a pile of rat dung - do not buy this book - and hopefully
someone who has a love of shipping history will write a really good, informitive book about white star