September 23, 2016 ROCK THE BOAT

  Since I live near the submarine capitol of the world, I have been witness to many submarine deployments while out running.  People come out from all over to watch the submarines steering out of the harbor guided by colorful tugboats--it is really quite a site. Navy families garner their binoculars to get a better glimpse of the subs as their loved ones leave for a six month deployment or even more exciting--returns. It's funny the things we take for granted in any given area--I'm sure most people have never seen a submarine launch. It's much like living near Cape Canaveral--people probably take rocket launches for granted there. I have never really thought too much about  submarines--until I started reading this great book by Erik Larson called Dead Wake.

LUSITANIA

Larson has a way of making non-fiction exciting and interesting--I could hardly put this book down. Written in 2015 to commemorate the 100th  anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, Larson draws on survivor accounts, love letters, the ship logs and secondary sources to bring this tragic event to life. He covers all the bases including politics of the time period, the death of President Wilson's wife, Churchill and America's neutrality in World War I. We also learn about the craftsmanship of the first submarines--or u-boats as the Germans called them--which is really quite fascinating. He introduces us to some of the passengers on the boat including Alfred Vanderbilt, Charles Frohman and Theodate Pope Riddle to name a few. He makes us care about everyone on the cunard liner--rich, poor, young and old--and fear for their safety. After the  Lusitania set sail from New York in May of 1915 on its way to Liverpool, it was literally 11 miles off the coast of Ireland when it was torpedoed  by a German U-boat. It sunk in 18 minutes killing over 1200 men, women and children. According to Larson, this is a tragedy that could have been avoided.  His account is fascinating as he re-investigates who was really at fault in this disaster--and he answer is frightening. Although this book is about 400 pages long--It's a pretty easy read--about a 5 mile run--that you won't want to miss. I promise.