Hey all! We did movie night (but really, aren’t they all movie nights, right now?) at our house with the new Tom Hanks WWII feature on AppleTV+ over the weekend. Watching “Greyhound”, seeing the UBoats chasing the Allied convoy across the North Atlantic, and getting real annoyed with the guy who was trying to sink Tom Hanks (the nerve!), I was reminded of Erik Larson’s Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. If you haven’t read anything by Erik Larson, get yourself over to the library or bookstore and dive in.
He is a master of non-fiction writing, getting you all the nerdy, informational stuff in a way that makes it feel like storytelling. After I read Dead Wake, I felt like an expert on naval warfare (I’m not.), because the detail with which he wrote about the submarines, their crews, and specifically the captain of U20, brought me right into the war taking place underwater.
The story of the Lusitania is a tragedy, but how this story comes to its end is a fascinating look at how and what was considered fair game as WWI unfolded. I found myself putting this one down often to look up information about submarines, people, places and timelines, so keep your favorite internet-connected device nearby. You’ll need it, first to look up this information, and later to place the rest of Larson’s books on hold at your library or in your online cart for purchase. I am looking forward to reading The Splendid and the Vile, Larson’s newest, ASAP.
Over the course of “Greyhound”, I’m pretty sure Tom Hanks consumes only coffee, despite the best efforts of the ship’s crew. So I would recommend sipping a cup, maybe even Irish style, while you enjoy Dead Wake, to ward off the chill of the North Atlantic waters.
Thanks for checking in,
J