# Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania - Hardcover

by **Erik Larson** (Author)

**#1 _NEW YORK TIMES_ BESTSELLER - From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the _Lusitania_**

**"Both terrifying and enthralling."--_Entertainment Weekly  
_**"**Thrilling, dramatic and powerful.**"**\--NPR  
**"**Thoroughly engrossing.**"**\--George R.R. Martin**

On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, 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 surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the _Lusitania_ was one of the era's great transatlantic "Greyhounds"--the fastest liner then in service--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.

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 and suspense, _Dead Wake_ brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow 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 whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history.

**Finalist for the Washington State Book Award - One of the Best Books of the Year: _The Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Miami Herald, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, LibraryReads, Indigo_**

### Author Biography

**Erik Larson** is the author of six _New York Times_ bestsellers, most recently _The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz,_ which examines how Winston Churchill and his "Secret Circle" went about surviving the German air campaign of 1940-41. Larson's _The Devil in the White City_ is set to be a Hulu limited series; his _In the Garden of Beasts_ is under option by Tom Hanks for a feature film. He recently published an audio-original ghost story, _No One Goes Alone_, which has been optioned by Chernin Entertainment, in association with Netflix. His _Thunderstruck_ has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television for a limited TV series. Larson lives in Manhattan with his wife, who is a writer and retired neonatologist; they have three grown daughters.

**Number of Pages:** 448

**Dimensions:** 1.41 x 9.36 x 6.94 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** March 10, 2015

**Award:** ALA Notable Books (2016)

**Accelerated Reader:**

**Quiz Name:** Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

**Interest Level:** Upper Grades, 9-12

**Reading Level:** 8.6

**Point Value:** 20

## Details

- **Price:** 32.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 32.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania - Hardcover

---

> Source: [Smart supply deals](https://smartsupplydeals.com/products/dead-wake-the-last-crossing-of-the-lusitania-hardcover)
> Updated: 2026-07-21