I simply cannot stop thinking of this book. I know everyone in the US “learns” about this disaster, but what they are really learning about is the consequences of it. We learn nothing about the lead up to, the actual moments, and direct aftermath of the ship wreck. Larson paints an absolutely tragic story that has me deeply mourning the loss of these people from 100+ years ago. 

I was deeply angered by learning that this could’ve been avoided in so many ways, but particularly I was angered by England’s intelligence network’s knowledge and inaction. Larson never directly declares that there was a conspiracy, but it is heavily implied. This disaster was a way to push America into war, and it cost 1000+ civilians their lives. England would go on to attack the Captain of the ship and blame Home for the disaster despite having knowledge that it was not his fault, all in a ploy to disguise their intelligence operations. Disgusting. I am constantly in awe of how little we know our own histories, but this one I truly felt to my bones. I have walked away saddened, angered, and disappointed by the lack of knowledge about this. 

Another difficult part of this book is learning how much had to go wrong in order for this to have happened, delays and cost saving measures put the ship in danger in the first place and the ongoing war meant less prepared crewmates to help civilians to life boats. The list of the boat after it was hit rendered many lifeboats unusable, and the general knowledge regarding life jackets was lack luster and many people on the boat improperly wore them and sadly drowned from their own lack of knowledge. So many things should’ve been addressed and changed after the Titanic accident, but instead lots of it just seemed like lip service to appease the public. Instead, over 1000 people died in an accident that was largely preventable, and could have been stopped outright had England prioritized lives over secrecy. 

I really enjoyed this one. I think it may be one of the best books to demonstrate that humans are inherently good. 

I really enjoyed the way this story flowed from past to present. The cake as a cultural tie to bring it all together was really well done and has me thinking about food and culture in a new way.