Customer Reviews

"Unsinkable": The Full Story of the RMS Titanic

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have also spent a good part of my life researching the Titanic disaster, and I wonder about Butler's sources. Much of the book seems to be the product of a fertile imagination rather than research, or at the least, some serious extrapolation with known facts. I have examined practically everything I have found regarding the disaster and have yet to discover some of Butler's information.

A few years ago Butler virtually took over a USENET newsgroup concerning the Titanic, insulting some of the members and setting himself up as an undisputed authority on the disaster. Eventually he ran off many of the members, including myself.

Before that occurred, I corresponded with him about one minor item I had found in the book, a notation that the USS Scorpion had collided with a Soviet submarine and this led to her loss. I wrote to him and asked him about his source, and if he had any more details. He told me that he had "heard" about it when he was in Army Intelligence, and could discuss it no further. However, in the book it is stated as a fact.

This book has a great deal of information in it, but when you are required to question almost everything contained in it, then its value as a historical document is severly diminished.

Overall it's an interesting and thorough comprehensive rehashing of the Titanic sinking. I think he did go overboard in several of his assumptions. e.g. There is no indication from other sources that Major Arthur Peuchen cut a poor figure socially. I've read all the Toronto papers published during that week from the sinking to after the Carpathia docked and though his name was not mentioned as frequently as Mr. Charles Hays, it was near the top of every list of Canadians who were known to be on the ship, usually without explanation of who he was - so he was certainly well known in his home city, which was even then a substantial place. So, if the author assumes unsubstaniated things about one passenger's social standing, can I trust him fully when he discusses the disaster?

Historically accurate, and well researched. The book goes into far more detail about the ship, the passengers and the aftermath of this tragedy than any book I've read. However, I found the far too many direct quotes from Walter Lord's classic "A Night To Remember" annoying. Which in my opinion ,made "Unsinkable" a book to forget.

Being very blunt, I can say with all honestly that Mr. Butler copied A Night to Remember almost word for word. He also never corrected any of Lord's mistakes. I think this is plagarism at it's worst

Mr. Butler appears to have taken a good deal from Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember." One would expect much more from someone claiming to have researched an issue for 30 some years. What concerns me most is the issue of credibility. Some of Mr. Butler's claims as to education, military, etc., cannot be verified. Thie leads one to wonder what else is "fiction" while reading the book. When reading something written by an historian, one must feel confident that one is reading truth, in all it's facets. This cannot be clouded by questions relating to other non-related ares; however, I found myself questioning simply due to this. I wanted to read the book and believe it, but the nagging questions were always present. Similarities to A Night to Remember would lead me to recommend one skip this book, and read A Night to Remember instead.

I liked this author's other book, The other side of the night, a lot better. This book does take things from a Night to Remember, but that didn't bother me. It reads like a novel and if you read it that way, it's pretty interesting. I've read about 30 books on the Titanic so far and this book has a lot of factual errors, some minor but they add up. For instance, Benjamin Guggenheim was in Paris and boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg. He couldn't have been on the boat train from London to Southampton. Leading Fireman Barrett, an important witness at both the American and British investigations, was named Frederick, while the author consistently referred to him as James. In the transcripts of testimony he was listed as Frederick. Mrs. Ryerson's maid's name was Victorine Chandanson, not Chansdowson. Harold Lowe was the Fifth Officer, sometimes referred to in the book as the Fourth Officer. There are many such errors. Also, how could the officer possibly know what certain persons were thinking who did not survive the disaster? He also seems to know exactly how the ship sank and broke up, giving a minute by minute account. By the time this book was written the wreck had been found, but if one wasn't there while it was happening, there is still a certain amount of guesswork to it. I'd read this book as a good story, but encourage people to read other books as well if they really want a factual account of the sinking.

Really excellent! This book must have taken a crazy amount of research. The author essentially synthesizes every book, diary, inquiry, and research project about the Titanic into a clear and readable storyline. The book reads like a novel, but is well-footnoted and is clearly grounded in the facts. One of the best features of this book is the way Butler takes quotes and memories from all (credible) sources and goes back to put them in the mouths of people as the events take place. For example, instead of writing that someone remembers John Jacob Astor saying something as the crew was loading life Boat #6, the author actually has Astor say it when he gets to that part of the story. This keeps the story's timeline much more linear and makes it easier to process. It follow the Titanic from her design and building through the investigations of her sinking. Butler wraps up with a "where are they now" synopsis of survivors and details the continuing salvage controversies.

Butler also takes time to explain historical contexts, such as class divisions and social expectations of the era, when he feels it will benefit the readers. These asides really help bring the motivations and behavior of the people involved in this tragedy to life, in a way some caricatures of poor schmucks stuck in steerage fail to do.

My only issues with the book are fairly minor. There is a glossary at the end, but I wish it were at the beginning (or at least referred to). If you aren't the seafaring type, it will help to learn the terms (like greaser, starboard, and bulkhead) before you start reading so that you can understand Butler's descriptions of the ship. You can get by without this, but it would help to know. I also highly recommend finding a map of the Titanic online and keeping it close at hand while you read. There are a lot of descriptions of the various decks, sections, and design components in the book and they are hard to keep straight without some sort of illustration. If you really want to understand the way the night unfolded, you'll need a map to keep it all straight.

I found that this book did nothing but retell the same information as the host of other Titanic books before it. The amount of blatant errors is another let down. I'm quite surprised it has gotten such rave reviews. END

This guys owes quite a bit to A Night To Remember, reading both books side by side. No original research, certainly not "30 years" worth, and to judge by the number of errors he has managed to transfer from other books to his, he didn't do much fact checking on his own. He seems to have just skimmed what was out there, and did an overview. Too bad for him that computer software that can pick up this sort of "authorship" has come on line.

I've also looked over his venom-filled reviews of other books that I have to think he regards as competitors. He accuses other of profiting off of the disaster, but he pops this book out to coincide with the movie, and puts out another (shortly) to coincide with the 100th anniversary? Must be hard to speak out of both sides of one's mouth so loudly.

Stick with spinning tall tales to elderly passengers on cruise ships, Dan.

THE AUTHOR CLAIMS TO HAVE RESEARCHED THE TITANIC FOR THIRTY YEARS. WELL, THIRTY YEARS OF MISTAKES WENT INTO THIS BOOK. ALL THE CROSS CHECKING ERRORS AND HISTORICAL MISTAKES FIND THEIR WAY INTO THIS BOOK. HE SEEMS TO HAVE COPIED A NIGHT TO REMEMBER WORD FOR WORD IN SOME SECTIONS. I UNDERSTAND HE IS WRITING A BOOK ON THE LUSITANIA. THAT WILL BE TWO SHIPS HE HAS SUNK.