Titanic: Legacy of the World's Greatest Ocean Liner [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Susan Wels (Author), George Tulloch (Epilogue), William F., Jr. Buckley (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Titanic | Publication Date: September 1997

The tragic fate of the Titanic is well known. But now, an astonishing wealth of new information about the people, events, and artifacts of that fateful night has been uncovered. Containing interviews, excerpts from actual passenger diaries, photographs, and replicas of items recovered from the ship itself, this book is published as a companion volume to the traveling 1997-98 Titanic exhibit.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Time-Life Books; 1st edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0783552610
• ISBN-13: 978-0783552613
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #615,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have Book For Titanic Fans., October 31, 1999

By 

Irvin Goodman - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Titanic: Legacy of the World's Greatest Ocean Liner (Hardcover)

Gorgeous 205 page, hardcover library volume. Beautiful full color and black and white large photos. Provides insight into the maiden voyage, terror at sea, in search of the Titanic, anatomy of the disaster, the trail of time, and an epilogue. Beautiful never before published photos. One of the best books on the topic to be found. Full color pictures of much Titanic memorabilia. A great addition to a Titanic fan's library.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Attractive Book for Light Reading, December 26, 2002

By 

Joseph (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Titanic: Legacy of the World's Greatest Ocean Liner (Hardcover)

Overall, this is a nicely-designed and illustrated book that would make a great gift. Many of the artifact photos (of which there are plenty) are unique to this book. The issue of salvage haunts every page of this book. On numerous occasions author Susan Wels makes the case for RMS Titanic, Inc. and their salvage operations. That may or may not be fine to you, depending upon your view of the whole salvage thing, but you'll probably find that it gets kind of annoying and repetitive after a while. Much is made of the fact that Titanic-finder Robert Ballard initially supported some salvage operations (he is now opposed to them).

All of that aside, the rest of the book is nice to look at and worth reading. The text plays second-fiddle to the photographs, but that's fine for a book such as this.

I was a bit surprised at one error in the text- in describing Captain Smith's safety record, Wels notes that he was captain of the Germanic when it `capsized' in 1899. Well, the Germanic sank upright at its pier because of an ice storm; it was quickly re-floated and spent another 51 years in service; the captain and crew were found not at fault by White Star; and the captain at the time was Edward McKinstry, not Edward J. Smith.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful recreation of Titanic:real and imagined., January 27, 1998

By 

J. Anderson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Titanic: Legacy of the World's Greatest Ocean Liner (Hardcover)

I found this volume satisfying and very well done. I have ordered the James Cameron book too, but really this volume stands well on its own. As I probably won't get to see the traveling exhibit, I especially appreciated seeing the actual artifacts "strewn" throughout the book, much as they appeared on the ocean floor.

As a graphic designer, I thought the design was admirable--contemporary, not overdone, yet sensitive of the period. I have several Titanic books, and consider this to be the most comprehensive visual assortment of information I have seen. To me, what was really special about this book were the computer illustrations mixed in --the opening sequence has a beautiful illustration of the bow coming into contact with the berg. The computer recreations of the ship's interior are also of high artistic quality and give the volume a dreamlike feeling. This together with informative charts and graphs give the reader a sensitive, nicely balanced account of the event--a true keepsake volume.