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The Last Journey Of The Lusitania By Erik Larson

1288 Words6 Pages

The Last Journey Of The Lusitania Section I: Introduction and Context During World War 1, unrestricted submarine warfare and tragedies were unlimited. Unrestricted submarine warfare and the tragedies it caused were the results of war, the effects of war are untasteful as well as ruthless. The book “Dead Wake” by Erik Larson dives deep into the unrestricted submarine warfare of WWI by also emphasizing the tragedy of the sinking of the Lusitania. His emphasis on the human tragedies caused by a submarine, U-20, helps prove the point of how submarines were left unchecked and underestimated during WWI. While some people might not think submarines played a pivotal role in WWI, Larson's delivery of the events leading up to the sinking of the Lusitania …show more content…

Larson highlights the role of technological advancements, and submarine boats, as a game changer in World War 1 by retelling the histories of sunken or encounters with submarine boats. By emphasizing personal stories, he humanizes the event and helps readers understand the tragedy’s scale and impact. Section II: The Author's Background Erik Larson is a notorious non-fiction writer with “six New York Times bestsellers” known for popular works such as “The Devil in the White City”, “In the Garden of the Beast” and “The Splendid and the Vile” (Bethune). Dead Wake by Erik Larson tells a “familiar tale into a finely written elegy on the contingency of war” (Bethune). Larson masterfully tells the events leading up to the sinking of the Lusitania and the aftermath in vivid detail, composed from “archival materials” such as “telegrams, codebooks, love letters, the submarine commander’s war log, depositions, interrogation reports” (Mudge). Since Lason went out of his way to read, discover, and research the full event of the Lusitania, he built up credibility among the readers as an

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