A truly excellent book on the Titanic disaster. It focuses on several wealthy first-class passengers, mainly because the information on their lives before and after is well documented. Woven into the history is the latest information from the discovery and exploration of the wreck. For instance the debate is now settled about whether the ship split in two.

This is the one book to read if you have never read a history of the Titanic.

This is the true story of the sinking of the Titanic and how it signals the end of the Edwardian Era. Through the stories of several first-class passengers Gareth weaves the tale of the end of an era.

I could not get through this book. It was just not what I was looking for, though I thought it would be.

The Ship of Dreams by Garth Russell is a most interesting historical book on the Titanic. It is factual about the builder, the building of the ship, the employees, the guests and the sinking of the Titanic.
I loved the information, the insights into the captain and his guests and where they were before the trip, during the trip and what happened after the sinking.
The Ship of Dreams is an amazing read and keeps you turning the pages even though it is non-fiction.
Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for the chance to review this book.

Full of unusual details and insights. Did not glorify the tragedy. Brought new depth to the whole picture behind the ship's construction and the company's goals.

i always enjoy reading about the Titanic, and this book was really interesting. The author was able to create an interesting read and you could tell that it was well-researched.

Wow! Such a detailed resource. This was obviously very well-researched and a great book for anyone interested in the Titanic beyond Hollywood.

A good story that follows six very different people onto the Titanic and through the collision and sinking and even afterwards.  Some of those were involved in the construction and operations.  Some were passengers.  All were interesting people.  None of them was a person I knew anything about prior the reading of this book.

It was well written and held my attention.  I obviously knew how the big picture was going to turn out.  What I didn't know was how the lives of the six people were going to turn out.  That was the interesting part here.  

If you want to learn about, not just the Titanic, but about life in the early 1910s, this is a good read to do it.

AUTHOR

Gareth Russell is the author of The Ship of Dreams. If you would like to read more about him, please click here. You can find Gareth on Facebook here.

WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE?

Those with an interest in the Edwardian era, the British Empire at its zenith or those who enjoy maritime drama played out against that tapestry will appreciate this manuscript. Other interested parties may include students of history, educators, and university professors.

SYNOPSIS

Russell’s, The Ship of Dreams is much more than a run of the mill retelling of the loss of the Titanic. He has taken the stance to elaborate and expand the remit to include: political, social, and economic events shortly before the advent of the Great War. He focuses on a group of six affluent passengers of the late lamented ship. He observes the tumultuous events beginning in Edwardian era that led to a seismic change in the place of the aristocracy and landed gentry of Great Britain. Russell goes on to describe how they and the ‘new monied’ plutocrats opulent lifestyles were about to be changed forever by a series of National politics, social and Global cataclysmic events. Events that would change the lifestyles of these elite strata of society fundamentally for generations. Russell cleverly interconnects their lives together, adding context against which to paint the tragic events surrounding the loss of Royal Merchant Ship (RMS) Titanic on her fateful maiden voyage.

Russell takes time to introduce the characters and their background information for the first quarter of the manuscript. This may be a disappointment to some however I found the social commentary and the details of the characters individual lives to be fascinating.

The cast of characters that Russell chose to focus our attention on are as follows:

1. Thomas Andrews, Managing Director of the Harland and Wolff shipyard.

2. Countess of Rothes, an aristocrat of the Leslie family and wife of Norman Leslie the 19th Earl of Rothes.

3. Dorothy Gibson, the highest paid actress in the world at that time.

4. The Strauss’ Ida and Isidore, joint owners of Macey’s.

5. John Thayer, an executive with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

6. Jack Thayer 17 year old son of John Thayer.

Before the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912, the dying had already begun. The first was Mr. James Dobbin, a forty-three-year-old shipwright struck by a beam as the ship was launched shattering his pelvis. He died the next day of his injuries.

Russell has managed to produce a heavily researched and compelling read, complete with extensive footnotes and a vast array of monochrome photographs. His narrative brings the Titanic back to life; her gargantuan size, grandeur, and sheer opulence lives again, at least in the mind of the reader.

I was pleased to see that Russell scuttled the myths and the tropes that have followed the tale of the Titanic since she went to Davy Jones locker. He debunked the lies repeated across time of the Third Class Passengers (AKA Steerage) having been locked in whilst the First Class passengers were prioritized. In addition, the disparaging allegations that certain characters dressed as women to sneak aboard the lifeboats were also disproved. Most important, were the claims attacking the character of Captain (AKA Commodore) Edward Smith.

At approximately 23:40 on the evening of 14 April 1912 with the sea so calm it was like glass the RMS’ luck ran out when she attempted to prevent a direct hit with an iceberg. As a result of the course change, the Titanic’s hull was breached 300 feet along the length of the ship. From that moment she was living on borrowed time. 1,100+ passengers and crew had barely noted how serious the incident was until it was too late. A brief 160 minutes later on 15 April 1912, all but 705 of the people on board had less than 15 minutes to live.

CONCLUSION

Russell has provided an original account of an often told tale. He corrects some of the many errors and provides previously unseen photographs and new information about the infamous incident. Russell’s writing style reminded me of Erik Larson, an author I hold in high esteem. The drama doesn’t end when the ship sinks beneath the waves to her watery grave. In many ways the drama simply switches location and ratchets up on both sides of the Atlantic. Russell details the changes arising from the investigations, both good and bad. The author did manage to capture the humanity and tragedy whilst keeping the familiar story fresh and exciting. Well written throughout with solid prose and a clear logical writing approach

Russell has given us an invaluable insight into the tragedy of the events that catastrophic evening. May the RMS Titanic and her passengers rest in peace.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Gareth Russell, NetGalley, and Atria Books for affording me the opportunity to review The Ship Of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era.

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Filled with great facts and thoroughly researched this book weaves together the facts to turn an interesting tale of a wonderful topic into a must read.

What sold me on reading this book was the latter section of the title; not the first. Another Titanic story? Yawn. A Titanic story told within the context of the end of the Edwardian Era sounded much more interesting, as it proved to be. As he tells the story of the sinking of the Titanic, Russell describes the decline of the British aristocracy, the tensions between Catholic and Protestant in Ireland, and their implications for Unionism, and the realities of transatlantic travel for scores of immigrants and pleasure-travelers. I found it fascinating that the author could use surviving correspondence to document the heroism and cowardice of the Titanic passengers. He chronicles the role that anti-semitism and class consciousness played in the decisions surrounding who was able to board the lifeboats. The sinking of the Titanic was not just a terrible tragedy, it marked the end of the old world and the beginning of a new, uncertain time driven by changes in technology, politics, and the foundations of society. This non-fiction book read almost like a novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of an e-galley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Very well researched book. The beginning was a bit hard to get through-it was chockfull of details from the times but maybe a bit too much. This was a very good book to read for someone looking for the facts not fluff. I definitely recommend to the history buff who wants to learn more about those times and the true tale of the tragic voyage of the Titanic.

Be warned--there are a lot of fine details about the background of the noble Rothes family that started the book off very slowly. But then, something clicked and I was hooked into Russell's interesting take on these upper class passengers, the business of moving people across the ocean quickly and how it revolved about the end of Edwardian era. By focusing on just a few, he has access to more information,( as more of them survived the sinking), plus the ancestry of the families are more well known. Like many, Walter Lord's A Night to Remember was my intro to Titanic lore and it was fascinating to learn the he corresponded for his own book with the Countess before her death. Really well done non fiction. Not the easiest of reads, but I felt I still learned quite a bit about this disaster.

For years I have been obsessed about getting my hands on any book that has the Titanic as the main subject. I found The Ship of Dreams: Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian was very intriguing. I highly recommend it.
Five stars.

Very interesting book, especially for people who love James Cameron's film. Russell discusses the journey of 1st Class, and he is so good at describing how luxurious not only the ship was, but the lives of these people during the Edwardian era. Definitely recommended to anyone who is interested in the Titanic or just history in general.

When I first saw The Ship of Dreams by Gareth Russell, I thought the concept interesting – a look at the Titanic sinking as it pertained to the demise of the Edwardian era. It sounded like a different take on the tragic event, so I requested it to review for Netgalley. I downloaded it in October, but couldn’t seem to get to it until now…maybe there was a reason for putting it off.
The book begins by establishing the social graces and/or disgraces of the Edwardian era – the excesses, the political atmosphere, the religious discourse between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland and more. That’s pretty much where the book began to lose me. At about ten percent into the book, I had only read about the background of Countess of Rothes Lucy Leslie, a passenger on the Titanic and some bits about Thomas Andrews, shipbuilder and architect for the Titanic project. The author took time explaining the background of the Leslie’s in depth. He then expounded, also in great depth, about the differences between the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland and the heated arguments regarding which church should be the official church there.
By the time I got to Mr. Andrews boarding the Titanic, I realized that he was only just boarding for a practice run – the fated run in which the fire in the boiler room took place. I was nowhere near the actual journey that took so many lives in April 1912. There were four other passengers this book was to focus on and I hadn’t even met them. For the first time in a very long time, I was already tired of this book and I hadn’t even gotten a quarter of the way through. And, for the first time in a very long time, I was ready to give up on it.
So, it is with great shame that I admit I never finished reading The Ship of Dreams. Gareth Russell is an excellent writer, but I think he took too much time explaining the background. I know it was essential in explaining the Edwardian era and how the sinking of the Titanic did much to ensure its demise, but the great detail with which he decided to go into this history takes away from the telling of the story as a whole. I’m not much on dry historical pieces and therefore doubt I will return to this book any time soon.

The Ship of Dreams is a well written and well researched book. There is a lot of information the author clearly has done. This is not a quick read. The historical information is fascinating.

Like many, I've always been intrigued by all things Titanic. This book shines a light on many of the notable figures in society at that time, with often unique perspectives. Mr. Russell does a splendid job of recreating the values and outlooks of both the wealthy and the "commoner", especially under deadly circumstances. A wonderful read, I recommend it to anyone who's still fascinated by this historical tragedy.

*Thanks to both the publisher and the author for allowing me to read an ARC of this book free of charge, in exchange only for an honest review."

I have always been fascinated by the Titanic and all the mysteries surrounding her so I was excited to read The Ship of Dreams. I have mixed feelings about this book. While I was blown away by the staggering amount of research that the author must have done, I was completely overwhelmed by all the information. It was like cutting through a tangled jungle trying to find the path to the main story. It just didn't work for me, but for those who thrive on facts and trivia, it is probably the most well researched book I've ever read so go for it.

I tried. I really did. I started this in digital format prior to it's publication date, but found the writing style dull. Once the book was published, I bought the audiobook, as I felt obligated to finish for NetGalley, since the publisher was kind enough to provide a free digital copy in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. But even switching formats did not help. Admittedly, I am not a Titanic scholar and this is not my favorite era in history or literature, but the book description sounded intriguing. Unfortunately, the writing style is almost textbook dry, and the plotting is rambling, jumping between characters that are only vaguely related. How the different characters pull together into the sinking of the Titanic is unclear as of the 60% mark. I find myself not caring at all about the people, the ship, or the political events around the world, which this book touches on. I think the author's scope is just too big. I will note that I am also not a fan of Erik Larson. I love his subjects, but not his writing. I mention him only because I think that if you are a fan of his work and his style, there's a very good chance you'll like this book, so please don't let me discourage you from attempting it. There were a couple of facts presented that I found interesting (hence the 2 star rating instead of 1), but sadly, I was so bored by the rest of the book that I can't even remember what those are, less than 24 hours later, and those few tidbits were not enough to keep me going.