The Rough Guide to the Titanic [Paperback]

Greg Ward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2012 | Series: Rough Guide to...

Just before midnight on 14 April 1912, the world's largest ship collided with an iceberg. For almost three hours, the Titanic stood poised between life and death.
The myth-busting new Rough Guide to the Titanic explores every aspect of the most famous shipwreck in history, from the birth of the mighty ship in Belfast to her tragic end far out on the icy Atlantic.  
Drawing on all the latest research; expertly written with Rough Guides' trademark passion and enthusiasm; illustrated with photos, maps, and diagrams; and tackling every controversy and conspiracy theory, it's the ultimate guide to what really happened on that freezing moonless night. 
Lively, accessible sections answer all the great questions:
Why has the disaster remained prominent in popular memory for an entire century?
Did the band really play Nearer My God To Thee as the ship went down?
Who fired the gunshots as the lifeboats were loading?
Were the third-class passengers locked below decks, unable to escape?
Was Captain Smith to blame for the disaster?
If the Titanic was unsinkable, why did she never complete her maiden voyage?
Besides a minute-by-minute account of the struggle for survival of the passengers and crew, from John Jacob Astor and Molly Brown on the upper decks to the emigrants and stokers far below, the book also describes the dramatic re-discovery of the wreck in 1985.
From the earliest newsreel to James Cameron's blockbuster, it reviews the best and the worst of the movies, music and books that have kept the memory of the Titanic alive.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An engrossing and elucidating read." – School Library Journal

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; Original edition (January 30, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405386991
• ISBN-13: 978-1405386999
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.6 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,164,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My latest book, the Rough Guide to the Titanic, is a definitive guide to the most famous maritime disaster in history.

Read about it on my blog, blogtanic.wordpress.com, and website, roughguidetitanic.com.

For Rough Guides, I've written fourteen travel, history and music books as sole author, and shared authorship on several more.

My photographs have been published in my own titles, and also in magazines, newspapers and other books.

As an editor, I've been responsible for many titles in the Rough Guides series, including commissioning the original guides to India and the USA, and editing the guides to Elvis, Soul and Conspiracy Theories.

I also do freelance writing and editing for other publishers, including various websites and online publications.

Please contact me if you'd like to invite me to talk about the Titanic, to commission me as a writer or editor, or to license my photos, or you have any questions about my books, apps or other work.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "They just builds 'er and shoves 'er in" April 19, 2012

By Allen Smalling TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE TITANIC is one of a number of histories of the Titanic published to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of that ship's infamous sinking in April of 1912. Alongside this book I also read the (very highly recommended) foundational oral history of the Titanic's sinking, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, and a book similar to this ROUGH GUIDE, THE TITANIC FOR DUMMIES (separately reviewed).

Both the ROUGH and the FOR DUMMIES versions of the Titanic's long saga agree on many things. Here are a few details that experts may know but may surprise newcomers:

-- Nobody smashed (or tried to smash) a bottle of champagne over the nose of the Titanic when it was launched. Cunard's contractor did that during its launching ceremonies; the builder of the Titanic, Harland & Wolff, did not. "They just builds 'er and shoves 'er in," in the memorable words of one assembly worker.

-- Margaret ("Molly") Brown did threaten to push a vacillating ship's officer out of a lifeboat, and she and other women did indeed take over the rowing. James Cameron's 1997 epic movie TITANIC got that point right. By the way, the nickname "Molly" wasn't invented until after Brown's death in 1932. Close friends called her "Maggie."

-- The Titanic split in two before it finally sank: the bow and midsection went down but the stern broke off, tried to right itself, but then went down shortly after.

-- Based on examination and partial exhumation of the underwater wreckage, it now seems likely that Titanic's collision with an iceberg resulted not in one large scar or gash, but a number of smaller holes punched from front starboard to amidships. TITANIC FOR DUMMIES estimates each of these holes to be no larger than a hardcover book; THE ROUGH GUIDE says that, all told, they didn't add up to more than the size of a human body. It is unlikely, though, that the punctures or holes resulted from weak or inferior plate steel, which was as good as that of its long-lived sister ship, the Olympic.

-- However, there is growing evidence to fault the kind of iron rivets used to join various sections of the ship's hull. Both TITANIC FOR DUMMIES and ROUGH GUIDE TO THE TITANIC maintain that the iron rivets (which were hand-hammered, as opposed to the ship's more numerous steel rivets, which were hydraulically hammered) were too high in slag (9.3% according to TITANIC FOR DUMMIES), an unacceptably high percentage even in 1912. This resulted in a structural weakness that allowed the rivets to "pop" upon pressure and open up the numerous holes that current studies agree let the water in.

Of the two new books I've just read, TITANIC FOR DUMMIES and this ROUGH GUIDE TO THE TITANIC, I prefer the latter. Why? TITANIC FOR DUMMIES has its strong points, including a color photo spread of the underwater wreckage and items recovered, and a list of menu items for each of the shipgoing classes for each of the three main meals. THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE TITANIC, however, contains details the other book does not, such as the medical reasons (enforced by U.S. law) that Third Class ("steerage") had to be physically segregated from the other classes: not only lice but trachoma, an eye disease that was difficult to control before the introduction of modern antibiotics. THE ROUGH GUIDE offers better accountings of the U.S. and UK boards of inquiry that quickly followed the Titanic tragedy. THE ROUGH GUIDE does not have a color spread but it does have a photo of "the big piece," which is indeed the biggest single piece of the Titanic currently recovered, and is now on display at the Luxor in Las Vegas. It also deals at more satisfying length with the wage scales for ship employees at all levels, and offers, in my estimation, more accurate interpretations of what wages and travel fares would equal in today's money. Historically, it is correct in assigning the year 1912 to the Progressive Era, whereas TITANIC FOR DUMMIES incorrectly stretches the "Gilded Age" past the 19th Century up to that year. THE ROUGH GUIDE with its slightly-smaller-than-U.S.-norm trade paperback trim size is of course considerably smaller than the outsize FOR DUMMIES volume and has fewer pages (and is cheaper); but since the average page consists of more lines with more words per line, the word counts of the two volumes are comparable.

In general, either THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE TITANIC or its "rival" THE TITANIC FOR DUMMIES are good introductions to the subject despite my preference for the former. I also highly recommend Walter Lord's 1955 oral history, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, which deals only with the crash and rescue, but is foundational for Titanic buffs. A delightful source of trivia is the book 888 1/2 AMAZING ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TITANIC, which, although aimed at pre-adolescents, can be enjoyed by all.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Titan of a book March 31, 2012

By Hande Z

Format:Paperback

Greg Ward wrote in the introduction to the book that "It will never be possible to tell the complete story of the Titanic." Yet in 253 pages he has managed to provide not just a rough guide to nearly everything we might want to know about the Titanic and its sinking in 1912, he wrote it with the skill of a seasoned storyteller. The book begins with "The 1912 Overture" and the drive to develop the White Star Line into a star shipping company. It follows with the story of the building of the Titanic and the technology of the day, including the new "wireless" communication. In one of the many boxed sides stories, Ward gives a short account of the use of the wireless to intercept a vessel carrying the infamous murderer Dr Crippen. There is a deck by deck description of the Titanic telling us where the library was, where the swimming pool was located and so on.

Ward then moves quickly to the night of 14 April when the tragedy unfolded. In a fluent account he tells how the lookout spotted the iceberg, what the captain did in trying to avoid the iceberg, the moment of impact, and the response of the passengers and crew; what they brought with them to the lifeboats - the Collyers took nothing at all; Major Arthur Peuchen took three oranges rather than a box containing $300,000; Henry Widener took his prized edition of Bacon's essays, saying to his mother, "The Little Bacon goes with me."

There is a long account of what went on in the lifeboats and how people were plucked from the sea. All in, 1,500 men, women and children perished that night. Next, Ward gives an account of the sensation created in the newspapers in the aftermath, and the even more sensational investigation and inquiry.

Finally, Ward describes the big questions: What damage did the iceberg actually do; was the Titanic made of substandard steel; were third class passengers impeded in getting to the lifeboats; and conspiracy theories such as whether the Titanic was swapped with its sister ship the Olympic, and sunk as an insurance scam. In one of the more startling revelations, Ward tells us that though many people have heard that the Titanic band played on and went down with the ship with the music of "Nearer My God to Thee", the fact was that the Titanic did not have a band. There was an ad hoc group of musicians playing on deck as the lifeboats were lowered and the entire band went down with the ship - no one could tell exactly what they were playing that night.

As a "rough" guide, Ward has given us a great service providing a short descriptive bibliography of the major books written about the Titanic, beginning with Beesley's "The Loss of the S.S. Titanic", published in 1912. He also provides a list of musical scores dedicated to the Titanic.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The lore of the Titanic March 27, 2012

By wogan TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

This book has almost all the information a reader would want to know concerning the Titanic and its sinking. It contains; the history of the ship and the time period, the collision and the aftermath.
Each section gives detailed and interesting information. There is a good introduction to both the aura and era of the Titanic and an historical overview of 1912. The building of the ship and of others of its class is described. Some rumors and legends are depicted and either confirmed or laid to rest. Each deck is illustrated and an explanation given. The officers, crew and their pay with comparisons of what it would be today are accounted for. Some information about individual passengers, what they did and said and what happened to them is recounted.
Diagrams are well done as well as some excellent charts. One gives a detailed number of each class of passenger, men, women and children and crew, the number who died and survived and the percentage rate, another gives a summary of the Titanic's legacy- the laws that have changed shipping regulations.

Two chapters give details of the Titanic in the media, documentaries, music, books and then where there are Titanic memorials. There are some pictures, a glossary, and an index.
All the information is thorough and detailed, written in a fascinating way.