Sara Wheeler
Going Down With The Ship
How to Survive the Titanic, or The Sinking of J Bruce Ismay
By Frances Wilson
Bloomsbury 352pp £18.99
This book is the first of a tide marking next year’s centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, the greatest peacetime shipwreck in history. The disaster has cemented itself into the national psyche and, as Frances Wilson points out in this playful addition to the voluminous Titanic literature, the story extends well beyond a band that played on. Vanity, fin de siècle, the sad absurdity of life, how we live with the consequences of our actions – Wilson deals deftly with all this and more.
Her focus is the 49-year-old J Bruce Ismay, chairman and managing director of the White Star Line, the company that built the Titanic. Ismay inherited the immensely profitable White Star from his father, but had sold it to J P Morgan before the intervention of the famous iceberg. At
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Are iPhones ruining children's lives? A prominent American psychologist thinks so.
@tiffanyjenkins is not so sure:
Tiffany Jenkins - The Smartphone Pandemic
Tiffany Jenkins: The Smartphone Pandemic - The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an...
literaryreview.co.uk
India's 'festival of democracy', or general election, begins next month. Like every good festival, it looks likely to have its fair share of murders and arrests.
@OwenBennettJon probes the state of democracy in India:
Owen Bennett-Jones - New Delhi Confidential
Owen Bennett-Jones: New Delhi Confidential - The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India by Alpa Shah
literaryreview.co.uk
Where is the world's newest narcostate and why is it thriving?
@AdamBrookesWord investigates Asia's meth mecca.
Adam Brookes - Meth Comes to Myanmar
Adam Brookes: Meth Comes to Myanmar - Narcotopia: In Search of the Asian Drug Cartel That Outwitted the CIA by Patrick Winn
literaryreview.co.uk