PREMIER EVENT: ERIK LARSON


Credit: Benjamin Benschneider
 
 

 

 

 

PREMIER EVENT: Erik Larson

Monday, April 13, 7:30pm

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania 

 

On the 100th anniversary of the Lusitania disaster, comes the enthralling story of the sinking ship from Erik Larson.

On May 1, 1915, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were anxious. Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone, and for months, its U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era's great transatlantic "Greyhounds" and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. He knew, moreover, that his ship--the fastest then in service--could outrun any threat.

Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger's U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small--hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more--all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history. 

It is a story that many of us think we know but don't, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour, mystery, and real-life suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope Riddle to President Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster that helped place America on the road to war.

Erik Larson is the author of four national bestsellers: In the Garden of Beasts, Thunderstruck, The Devil in the White City, and Isaac's Storm, which have collectively sold more than 5.5 million copies. His books have been published in fourteen countries.

Event date: 
Monday, April 13, 2015 - 7:30pm
Event address: 
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025-4349
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America By Erik Larson Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780375725609
Availability: In Stock at Kepler's Now
Published: Vintage - February 10th, 2004

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin By Erik Larson Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780307408853
Availability: In Stock at Kepler's Now
Published: Crown - May 1st, 2012

Thunderstruck By Erik Larson Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781400080670
Availability: In Stock at Kepler's Now
Published: Crown - September 25th, 2007

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History By Erik Larson Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780375708275
Availability: In Stock at Kepler's Now
Published: Vintage - July 11th, 2000

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Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania By Erik Larson Cover Image
$32.00
ISBN: 9780307408860
Availability: Usually Arrives at Kepler's in 3-14 Days
Published: Crown - March 10th, 2015