Dead Wake

<p>On 1 May 1915 a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York bound for Liverpool. The passengers - including a record number of children and infants - were anxious. Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months its submarines had brought terror to the North Atlantic.<br>But the Lusitania's captain William Thomas Turner had faith in the gentlemanly terms of warfare that had for a century kept civilian ships safe from attack. He also knew that his ship - the fastest then in service - could outrun any threat. But Germany was intent on changing the rules and Walther Schwieger the captain of Unterseeboot-20 was happy to oblige. Meanwhile an ultra-secret British intelligence unit were tracking Schwieger's U-boat...but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way towards Liverpool forces both grand and achingly small - hubris a chance fog a closely-guarded secret and more - converged to produce one of the great disasters of 20th century history.<br>It is a story that many of us think we know but don't and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly switching between hunter and hunted. Full of glamour mystery and real-life suspense <i>Dead Wake</i> brings to life a cast of evocative characters including the US President Wilson a man lost to grief dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. Gripping and important <i>Dead Wake </i>captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster that helped place America on the road to war.</p>