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A Night to Remember

by Walter Lord, Nathaniel Philbrick (Introduction)

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 6,417 ratings · 529 reviews

The classic minute-by-minute account of the sinking of the Titanic, in a 50th anniversary edition with a new introduction by Nathaniel Philbrick

First published in 1955, A Night to Remember remains a completely riveting account of the Titanic's fatal collision and the behavior of the passengers and crew, both noble and ignominious. Some sacrificed their lives, while others

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Paperback, 208 pages

Published January 7th 2005 by Holt Paperbacks (first published 1955)

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Dec 05, 2012 David Lafferty rated it 4 of 5 stars

I remember summer camp. That first night when Victor (in the the top bunk) threw up into my suitcase. I was in the bottom bunk taking cover from the shower of vomit. Anyway, Victor turned me on to Walter Lord. My favorite Lord book was The Good Years: From 1900 to the First World War written in 1960. But A Night to Remember may have been his most famous. It's a minute-by-minute description of the sinking of the Titanic told with an eerie sense of objectivity and removal, following specific real...more

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Jul 17, 2009 Evan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure-truelife, survival, __in-my-collection, arr-matey-seagoing-fare, 2009-reads, freezin-ur-ass-off

This is sort of the primary, classic book on the Titanic disaster. Published in 1955, it's short and smoothly written -- covering the viewpoints of a large cast and changing centers of perspective with ease. There have been four movies made about the Titanic in the sound era (there were several silent movies about or loosely based on it). I've seen three of the four and have the other one on VHS to watch. The first was a 1943 German, Nazi-produced spectacle that mainly was made, it seemed, as an...more This is sort of the primary, classic book on the Titanic disaster. Published in 1955, it's short and smoothly written -- covering the viewpoints of a large cast and changing centers of perspective with ease. There have been four movies made about the Titanic in the sound era (there were several silent movies about or loosely based on it). I've seen three of the four and have the other one on VHS to watch. The first was a 1943 German, Nazi-produced spectacle that mainly was made, it seemed, as an anti-British propaganda piece. The special effects were so good that the ship sinking model shots were re-used in the 1958 Brit version, based on this book: "A Night to Remember." In the interim, Hollywood made an attempt in 1953, called simply "Titanic," starring Barbara Stanwyck. For some reason, I've never found the time to watch it, even though I own it. I find it hard to imagine that it could surpass the 1958 British film: a soberly compelling version that remains my favorite. It seems most in spirit of the book.
James Cameron's 1997 version is for little girls. Blah.

Reading on...rating soon to come.

This is a breeze to read. Very vivid, full of detail. The only thing that causes a slight slowdown is the sheer number of characters. To Lord's credit, he reminds us frequently of the positions and titles of the characters, so we don't have to go back or jog our memories trying to remember who these people are. I love when authors do that. I'm for easy. As I'm reading this I'm realizing how well the 1958 film captured this account and how badly the hokey 1997 film did.

FINAL:
Enjoyed this greatly. I especially enjoyed Lord's analysis of the class snobbery and attitudes of the time that led to a higher percentage of deaths among the third-class passengers vs. the first and second classes, and the media's disinterest at the time to hearing the stories of the common people in preference to the Astors and the other robber-baron types. On the other hand, he is fair, and gives credit to almost everyone for having class and dignity. I hesitate to call Lord's treatment of the issues "socially conscious," I just think he was trying to be more "fair and balanced" as a historian than other writers had been previously.
There are probably other books that go into greater detail on certain aspects of this story, but I can't imagine there being a better entre book on the Titanic than this.(less)

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May 16, 2012 Kat rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, non-fict, titanic, 2012-read, updated

When I was about 15, I was completely obsessed with the Titanic (yep, that's the year the movie came out!), and I brought every book I could find about it. And at the time, hyping up the movie, there was a lot of books available.

A couple of years later, the obsession had faded and it wasn't until the 100th anniversary of the sinking in mid-April that my interest was piqued again. So I picked up a copy of A Night to Remember.

Written in 1955, it reads with a surprisingly modern and appealing voice...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Bill Rogers rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Because I'm cruel and evil, I'm going to ruin this book for you with a spoiler. The ship sinks, folks.

What, you already knew that? You've heard the story before, once or twice, maybe? In fact, do you think the Titanic story is overblown in our culture? Are you tired of it? You can blame Walter Lord. But don't blame him too much; he wrote an amazing book.

Lord was something of a harmless crank with a bit of a fascination with this big honkin' ship that had run into an iceberg a few decades before....more

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Mar 08, 2013 Gerry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Most people know the full story of the sinking of the White Star liner 'Titanic' but Walter Lord's account of that fateful night/early morning of 14/15 April 1912 is enthralling and reads like a first-rate thriller.

He immediately captures the reader in a bitterly cold north Atlantic night with the watch in the crow's nest peering into freezing fog; one immediately thinks of wrapping a blanket around oneself to stave off that cold!

And he builds the drama beautifully, act-by-act, often in the word...more

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Jan 27, 2013 David Earle rated it 5 of 5 stars

My all-time favorite non-fiction read….a book I read as a child and then reread later as an adult. There has never been a more definitive book retelling the minute-by-minute events that happened when the TITANIC, the “ship of dreams”, went to the bottom of the ocean on her maiden voyage that fateful night on April 15, 1912. When Walter Lord wrote “A Night to Remember” in the mid-1950’s it quickly became one of the biggest international best sellers of that decade. There were still hundreds of TI...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Kristina Lowen rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord is a novel relaying the events of the night of the sinking of the Titanic as even-handed as possible. Though the famous James Cameron adaptation weaves an unforgettable (yet undeniably fictional) tragic love story, Lord's focus was to write the story true to fact with the known information at hand, while still weaving a story to capture a reader. Lord wanted to have the the Titanic's voyage itself solely on display in this book, and since you can usually find t...more A Night to Remember by Walter Lord is a novel relaying the events of the night of the sinking of the Titanic as even-handed as possible. Though the famous James Cameron adaptation weaves an unforgettable (yet undeniably fictional) tragic love story, Lord's focus was to write the story true to fact with the known information at hand, while still weaving a story to capture a reader. Lord wanted to have the the Titanic's voyage itself solely on display in this book, and since you can usually find the phrase "true story" somewhere in most summaries of a A Night to Remember, I believe that to be a confirmation of the success of Lord's intended purpose.

The theme is slightly obvious, yet difficult to define at the same time. I would say A Night to Remember's theme lies in the subject of tragedy, because it would be an insult to call it anything but. The story walks through the night that the Titanic sunk through the eyes of 2nd Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller, and it is nothing short of heartbreaking to follow. You are reading death. It's a story that makes your stomach sink because of the inevitable ending, but I believe that is exactly what Lord had in mind. He wanted A Night to Remember to be themed around the sole sadness of the sinking, and for the book to dwell on it.

The style that Lord wrote A Night to Remember in is somewhat of a hybrid between a descriptive and narrative novel. On one hand, since Lord was intending to write about true events, he was explaining the sinking of the Titanic, describing each unfolding plot twists and following the night in chronological order. Yet on the other hand, he wrote through the eyes of the 2nd Officer, therefore giving it an element of narration. Since this novel contains elements of both that overlap, it is impossible to pick one.

Concluding, despite the fact that A Night to Remember broke my heart and put me in a sad state for a good couple of hours prior to completion, I really enjoyed this novel. I liked reading the factual side of the night of Titanic's sinking, to know what really happened beyond the classic story of Jack and Rose. In addition, I like that though Lord prided himself in using only proven correct information, he did not write in a dreary manner, and his work was entertaining and enjoyable to read. I truly didn't dislike much, except for the obvious sad ending, but there is nothing Lord and I can do about that one. Nothing immediate comes to my mind to change, because I truly enjoyed it and its originality in displaying the Titanic in her true light. Well done, Lord, well done indeed.(less)

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Oct 04, 2012 Kelsie Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

The purpose of the book "A Night to Remember". I think this book "A Night to Remember" was to inform the readers about the night of the real Titanic. The night of the Titanic a very memorable night because of all the people that died on the Titanic, all the people who sacrificed there lives and all the treasures lost that night, and i feel like this book just tells you all about it, every detail.

The Theme of this book would be the Titanic and trying to figure out ways to make this not happen...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Sheila DeChantal rated it 5 of 5 stars

She was built and marketed as unsinkable. A grander ship you would not have found. To be aboard her on this maiden voyage was privilege for the 2,207 passengers aboard, no matter if you were first class or steerage, you knew you were experiencing history in the making.

If only they had known how true that would be...

As she sped across the dark waters one cool April evening no one knew what was about to happen, and when it did happen....

"Iceberg right ahead!"

... no one thought it would do the dama...more She was built and marketed as unsinkable. A grander ship you would not have found. To be aboard her on this maiden voyage was privilege for the 2,207 passengers aboard, no matter if you were first class or steerage, you knew you were experiencing history in the making.

If only they had known how true that would be...

As she sped across the dark waters one cool April evening no one knew what was about to happen, and when it did happen....

"Iceberg right ahead!"

... no one thought it would do the damage it did. But once the damage was done, The Titanic in all her glory sunk quickly. A Night To Remember is the true minute by minute account of what happened after the Titanic struck ice, how some people reacted with an honor that is unmatched to this day, giving their lives... and yet other people brought out the ugliest side of humanity, and greed, and the instinct to survive, no matter what the cost.

In 1898, 14 years before the Titanic sailed, a book was written called The Wreck Of The Titan. The ship, according to the book, was unsinkable. This fictitious ship was sailing the North Atlantic in April when it struck an iceberg 400 miles from Newfoundland, causing it to sink. There were not enough life boats for the people on board...

As told in the opening of A Night To Remember

A Night To Remember is as accurate a recap as I have ever heard as to what happened that fateful April night in 1912. Its easy to understand that 100 years later, movies are still bring produced and books are still being written about one of the greatest tragedies of the sea.

Narrated by Martin Jarvis and 5 hours and 4 minutes long, this book is read at a wonderful pace filled with facts brought forth by those who lived to tell the story.

I was amazed at how close what I was hearing was to how the Titanic movie was made, all the way down to the large Irish man who fought to have the steerage women be released to have a chance to save themselves. Many of the lines from this book/audio, were also used in the movie,

"She is Unsinkable!"

For the rest of my review please visit: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/2012...(less)

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May 13, 2012 Trish rated it 4 of 5 stars

Excellent, clear detailed description and finely researched book about the night of the Titanic sinking. It's a really compelling story in itself, and I liked how Lord doesn't get too complex with the narrative - a lot of historical non-fiction I read seems to wind itself into a tight little ball of names, dates, historical events surrounding the event of time being written about, and Lord seems to have a gentle but lasered focus on the exact timeline of the tragedy. He takes a few narratives to...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those more interested more in the atmosphere of the Titanic than the science

Shelves: kindle-loan, non-fiction

This quick and interesting book gives a detailed account of not only the events but also the atmosphere during the events. Pieced together from a number of resources, the book is littered with details from survivors' accounts, but rather than just a dry recording, Lord infuses the book with the attitudes and reflections gleaned from those involved in the disaster. This made the hook stand out to me, compared to other accounts of the Titanic disaster and even similar works about other famous even...more

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Apr 14, 2012 David Dicolen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Never again would men fling a ship into an ice field, heedless of warnings, putting their whole trust in a few thousand tons of steel and rivets. From then on Atlantic liners took ice messages seriously, steered clear or slowed down. Nobody believed in the "unsinkable ship".

Had I not been able to watch the 1997 Titanic film for the very first time just this last 8th of the April of this year, I wouldn’t have gone ballistic with this whole Titanic curiosity I lately have found myself obsessing in...more Never again would men fling a ship into an ice field, heedless of warnings, putting their whole trust in a few thousand tons of steel and rivets. From then on Atlantic liners took ice messages seriously, steered clear or slowed down. Nobody believed in the "unsinkable ship".

Had I not been able to watch the 1997 Titanic film for the very first time just this last 8th of the April of this year, I wouldn’t have gone ballistic with this whole Titanic curiosity I lately have found myself obsessing into. Though I have to admit that the fabricated romance created by James Cameron himself is one to consider out of the several factors why I suddenly was hooked with the tragedy that happened almost a hundred years ago, its history I believe, is still to consider as the root cause of why it also had me thinking what were the mysteries and issues that have gone through the world’s most beautiful ship of all time. And I have never been this curious and intrigued in my entire life that I have even found myself doing a research online, trying to find scanned newspapers and articles, watching several documentaries while at the same time trying to formulate my own theory by how it really sank at all, and even until I found this book, published 1955, about to be bought by someone I do not know of, on a thrift store.

In Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember, The Titanic disaster, considered as one of the 20th century’s most famous events that people all over the world have once been so curious and surprised about, was presented with an easy perspective and a carefully vivid account of details that took place between the starting voyage of the most beautiful ship in the world until through the most intricate amount of information by the time the ship itself has finally been considered gone. Walter Lord, I have to admit have done such an intensive research that he was able to bring back the horrors and nightmares that passengers from different deck class have once gone through, the luxury and well known glamour of the first class passengers, the elegance and splendid beauty of the ship itself, and the minute by minute account of information from the time the Titanic had struck an iceberg to the time the sea has swallowed it whole. He was even able to provide the deck plans of the ship and the list of the passengers in which he used the names on, into reliving such swift moments of devastation the world will never forget.

It was an ill-fated tragedy considering there had been so many reasons and instances when the sinking could have all been prevented. But maybe, it was never the nature’s will or the human error that this disaster was at all meant to put the blame into, but rather, this horribly frightening historical event that the world will always look back into, had been allowed to happen so that people can be more extra careful next time or to serve as a lesson for everybody to always lend a hand whenever an unforeseeable crisis occur. Edward Smith, the captain himself had once branded the Titanic as the “Unsinkable Ship”. But it never was, as to what happened after all, but take a look at the irony of it. It may lay rested through the great depths of the sea, but the whole tragedy of it that had once killed a thousand lives and dreams, will all lay rested in our hearts. And we can never forget it. For history always has its way of reminding us of the world’s most beautiful ship that had once sailed through the vastness of the sea, known to many as the Titanic. The unsinkable ship.(less)

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Apr 12, 2012 Catherine Ryan Howard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very readable and to date definitive account of the sinking of the Titanic that, apparently, both James Cameron and Julian Fellowes relied upon when it came to making their movie and TV series respectively. Living here in Ireland with both Belfast and Cobh (formerly Queenstown) making the most of their Titanic claims to fame in the run up to the centenary—Belfast actually having one, it being where the ship was built, but Cobh neglecting to mention that Titanic never docked there but instead wai...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Lyndsey Staff rated it 3 of 5 stars

A Night To Remember is a historical detailed account of one of the most famous events that took place in the 20th Century. Obviously, the author did a great amount of research as there are a lot of fine details and descriptions throughout.

The book defines one event from 1912. It gives such a great sense of the chaos and excitement during this event that the reader forgets this all unfolded in under 48 hours.

It's clear from the first chapter that something extreme is going to take place. "A quic...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Taelor Shryock rated it 3 of 5 stars

The author’s purpose was to inform other readers about the Titanic. Not only did the author give you facts about what happened, but he also told a story to go along with it. In this book, the way the author uses his words makes the book more interesting.

The theme of this story was survival. When the ship started to sink, no one knew what to do. The people were scatter-brained, and everywhere you looked it was crowded. Families had to split up on lifeboats, which frustrated the parents because o...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Matthew Kresal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The sinking of the Titanic is one of the mot famous events of the twentieth century. It has spawned numerous books, movies (including one of the highest grossing of all time), poems, songs and even a full-fledged Broadway musical. Considering all that material, it might seem difficult to believe that there would be a definitive account of the sinking. The late Walter Lord's 1955 book A Night To Remember could very well be called just that. Though published more then a half century ago, Lord's bo...more The sinking of the Titanic is one of the mot famous events of the twentieth century. It has spawned numerous books, movies (including one of the highest grossing of all time), poems, songs and even a full-fledged Broadway musical. Considering all that material, it might seem difficult to believe that there would be a definitive account of the sinking. The late Walter Lord's 1955 book A Night To Remember could very well be called just that. Though published more then a half century ago, Lord's book remains a well researched, fast paced and highly accessible account of the events of April 14th-15th, 1912.

Unlike many Titanic books, Lord chose to focus A Night To Remember on just about a dozen hours of the Titanic's story: namely the events from 11:40 PM on April 14th through about the same hour the following morning. Lord wisely decided not to focus on one person or group as well but instead used accounts and interviews from various survivors to create a books that seems to effortlessly wander around both the Titanic herself and the people aboard her. We float from the likes of the Astor and Thayer families in first class to teacher Lawrence Beesley in second class to Daniel Buckley and Katy Gilnagh in third class to members of the ship's crew like second officer Charles Lightoller and wireless operator Harold Bride. In doing so Lord created a fascinating human drama played out for the most part on an 882 ½ foot stage filled with people from all walk's of life.

On occasion Lord does venture away from Titanic towards other aspects of that night. The now classic prologue with its surprising twist of eerie coincidence is a fine example of this. Nine of the ten chapters of the book go about ten or so miles away from the Titanic to another ship, the Californian, which thanks to this book (and the film version of it released in 1958) would once again find itself in the middle of a controversy that continues on to this very day. The reader is also given glimpses to the wider world outside of the sinking liner such as chapter seven which looks at the aftermath of the sinking or the final chapter that finally shows the reader the reaction in New York City and around the world to the immediate aftermath of the sinking. While the book mainly focuses on the sinking itself and its immediate aftermath, these occasional ventures are welcomed indeed.

The book is also helped by its brisk pacing. One might expect that to do all of the above A Night To Remember must have a page count equal to that of a great epic novel of the past. But the truth is quite different. Lord does all of the above in a mere 180 or so pages (based on the page count of the 1997 Bantam Books reprint). The ability to float from place to place, person to person makes up for a large portion of this. When needed though, Lord narrows the narrative focus down to a single moment in time. This is no better illustrated then with Lord's truly incredible description of the Titanic's final plunge to the bottom of the Atlantic that, while not stating that the ship broke up as it sank (a fact not confirmed until thirty years after the book was published and that Lord would explore along with other Titanic issues in his follow-up to this book published in 1986), leaves one more then capable of imaging both the sights and sounds of that very moment. While the brisk pacing and constant moving about may leave some readers with the feeling the book is unfocused the truth is that the book is anything but.

A Night To Remember is more then just another book on the sinking of the Titanic. It is a true epic that wanders from person to person, place to place as it recreates one of the most famous disasters of all time. It is a non-fiction book that feels more like a great novel and as such remains pretty much as definitive today as it was more then a half century ago. (less)

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Feb 15, 2010 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars

James Cameron ruined the Titanic.

Now, anyone who's ever been interested in the subject must contend with sideways glances from people who assume your curiosity was piqued by Kate Winslet gazing at Leonardo DiCaprio with her big doe eyes. Countless books, documentaries, and even video games were released to coincide with the ill-fated ship's meteoric popularity. This is not to say that Cameron's Titanic was entirely irredeemable. Indeed, there are many parts of the film where you can feel Camero...more

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Oct 14, 2009 Melissa Andrews rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, survival-stories, audiobook

I had to make a trip for work that would have been about four hours roundtrip, so I went to the library looking for a 'short' audiobook. This one is a little over five hours, and it made my trip.

I've always been interested in stories about the Titanic and this is a good one. The author's research was amazing - he tracked down many of the survivors and/or their relatives and also used the investigations done by the British and the Americans to put together a book that tells the story from the per...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Kirsti rated it 5 of 5 stars

Now I've read quite a few books about the Titanic- yes, I'm one of those morbidly curious human beings in awe of one of the worst disasters of all time. I mourn the loss of the life, cheer for the survivors, weep with the wives as they say goodbye to their husbands. This book has heaps of first hand accounts and stories, told to the author often by the survivors themselves. There was information I hadn't read before, and the same sad stories that make me sigh every time. If not for the massive l...more

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May 17, 2012 Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In April during the centennial observances, I read an article in the New Yorker about the various treatments of the Titanic story. It commented that all the movies and miniseries added drama to the story. The author felt this was unnecessary, because the story itself had sufficient drama. His example for this was Walter Lord's A Night to Remember.

Published in 1955, Lord's telling is based on his thorough research, including interviews with still-living survivors. Here are the real stories of tha...more In April during the centennial observances, I read an article in the New Yorker about the various treatments of the Titanic story. It commented that all the movies and miniseries added drama to the story. The author felt this was unnecessary, because the story itself had sufficient drama. His example for this was Walter Lord's A Night to Remember.

Published in 1955, Lord's telling is based on his thorough research, including interviews with still-living survivors. Here are the real stories of that night as told by the people themselves. And you don't need fictionalized romances, fictionalized daring escapes, or fictionalized jewels. All that is in the real story.

You also get the story of the other boats -- the Carpathia, which came quickly and heroically to the rescue, and the Californian, which sat ten miles off all night watching the Titanic fire rockets and wondering what was going on.

Lord also understands the larger cultural issues of the Titanic story -- how it changed culture and why it still captivates us. This was a breaking point for the world of established wealth and privilege. Never again would people accept class differences quite the same. And the admired rich shifted from the established wealthy to entertainers and sports figures.

Also, people were never more so sure of themselves. The Titanic came at the end of a 100 years of ever improving technology and understanding, with no major European wars. After this tragedy came war and the rest of the 20th century:

"The unending sequence of disillusionment that has followed can't be blamed on the Titanic, but she was the first jar. Before the Titanic, all was quiet. Afterward all was tumult. That is why, to anybody who lived at the time, the Titanic more than any other single event marks the end of the old days, and the beginning of a new, uneasy era."

But that sort of commentary is kept to a minimum. The book is primarily story and brief character sketches. And it is engaging. I started it last night after work and couldn't go to sleep until I'd finished it.(less)

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Apr 29, 2012 W rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-read

This historical account of the Titanic's sinking includes a myriad of stories from survivors, putting together the big picture of what was going on among the people on the ship the night Titanic sunk.

The author used primary sources to put together this very readable text. I enjoyed reading the different accounts of the disaster in a mostly-chronological order. Particularly interesting were people's reactions as the events were unfolding. The author included stories from all classes, from surviv...more

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Apr 18, 2012 ParasolPirate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(Review copied from my Tumblr.)

I cried. More than I expected to, due to there being a passenger list at the back of the book, stating who had been saved and who hadn’t. During partings, I checked the list. Needless to say, few of the men survived.

It was quite a confusing account at first, and I found it difficult to get into due to so many ‘characters’ being involved. A lot of it read like a list. Part of my confusion might have been due to my ignorance of crew and ‘famous’ people names, and hav...more

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May 29, 2010 Lobstergirl rated it 3 of 5 stars

James Cameron's vision of the Titanic decided that the most compelling and lucrative story would focus on two young lovers who had just met. Looking at the passenger manifest, where survivors are listed in italics and the dead are not, suggests how blandly offensive this vision is. It's hard to argue with the chivalry of "women and children first," but for family after family, particularly among first class passengers, fathers and husbands went down with the ship while mothers, wives, and kiddie...more James Cameron's vision of the Titanic decided that the most compelling and lucrative story would focus on two young lovers who had just met. Looking at the passenger manifest, where survivors are listed in italics and the dead are not, suggests how blandly offensive this vision is. It's hard to argue with the chivalry of "women and children first," but for family after family, particularly among first class passengers, fathers and husbands went down with the ship while mothers, wives, and kiddies (and often the female servants of the very wealthy) rowed away in lifeboats. Arthur Ryerson, scion of the steel and iron family, took off his lifebelt when he saw that his wife's maid, Victorine, didn't have one. Ryerson, his wife, and three of their children were returning from France to the U.S. for the funeral of his son, who had been thrown from a car the week before. Ryerson Senior perished. John Jacob Astor asked if he could accompany his wife, who was pregnant, into a boat; request denied. She and her maid survived; Astor and his manservant died. A strange calm descended over the doomed elite: Benjamin Guggenheim and his valet changed into their evening clothes so they could "go down like gentlemen." Mrs. Isador Straus refused to leave her husband (the founder of Macy's) and they watched the hubbub, arms entwined, as in another part of the ship steerage passengers, many of whom didn't speak English, clutched rosaries and prayed. But character was not uniformly spread amongst the nobility. As the ship disappeared beneath the waves, Lady Cosmo Duff Gordon in Lifeboat 1 remarked to her secretary: "There is your beautiful nightdress gone."

Lord engagingly writes of these swells:

There was a wonderful intimacy about this little world of the Edwardian rich. There was no flicker of surprise when they bumped into each other, whether at the Pyramids (a great favorite), the Cowes regatta, or the springs at Baden-Baden. They seemed to get the same ideas at the same time, and one of these ideas was to make the maiden voyage of the largest ship in the world.

The sinking of the Titanic marked the end of an era in many ways, Lord argues, fairly convincingly. The American aristocracy ceased being noble and became merely wealthy. The sense of noblesse oblige went. People continued to make fortunes, but the war and the income tax bit into the unrelieved joyousness of being obscenely moneyed. "Men would go on being brave, but never again would they be brave in quite the same way." (less)

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Jul 12, 2012 Lushbug rated it 5 of 5 stars

Written by Walter Lord in 1955 its regarded by many as the definitive account of the sinking of the Titanic. The Titanic made famous not simply because it was an unsinkable boat but also the most chivalrous. Women and children first is said to have been the motto when passengers were forced to decide who would be given a seat in the scarce lifeboats.

Walters interviewed over fifty survivors to write this story and in his retelling he never loses sight that this is human tragedy and his focus is v...more
Written by Walter Lord in 1955 its regarded by many as the definitive account of the sinking of the Titanic. The Titanic made famous not simply because it was an unsinkable boat but also the most chivalrous. Women and children first is said to have been the motto when passengers were forced to decide who would be given a seat in the scarce lifeboats.

Walters interviewed over fifty survivors to write this story and in his retelling he never loses sight that this is human tragedy and his focus is very much on the characters. I found myself really caring about the people and rooting for them and could imagine myself there.

This following except made me cry: Its after the titanic has sunk and the survivors are all in the water. Some have made it to a little boat and were being swamped by swimmers trying to climb on and had to stop others trying to climb in;

“Thats all right, boys keep cool” one of the swimmer replied when they asked him to steer clear of the swamped boat. The man then swam off, calling back “good luck, God bless you”. Another swimmer kept cheering them on: “good boy; good lads!” he had the voice of authority and never asked to climb aboard.

The except made me laugh: the against all odds survival of drunk Chief Baker Charles Joughin;

"The deck was now listing too steeply to stand on, and Joughin slipped over the starboard rail and stood on the actual side of the ship. He worked his way up the side, still holding onto the rail--but from the outside--until he reached the white-painted steel plates of the poop deck. He now stood on the rounded stern end of the ship, which had swung high in the air some 150 feet above the water.
"Joughin casually tightened his lifebelt. Then he glanced at his watch--it said 2:15. As an afterthought, he took it off and stuck it into his hip pocket. He was beginning to puzzle over his position when he felt the stern beginning to drop under his feet--it was like taking an elevator. As the sea closed over the stern, Joughin stepped off into the water. He didn't even get his head wet.
"He paddled off into the night, little bothered by the freezing water. It was four o'clock when he saw what he thought was wreckage in the first gray light of day. He swam over and discovered it was the upturned Collapsible B.
"The keel was crowded and he couldn't climb on, so he hung around for a while until he spied an old friend from the kitchen--entrée chef John Maynard. Blood proved thicker than water, Maynard held out his hand and Joughin hung on, treading water, still thoroughly insulated."

Some nice touches-lots of pictures and a list of all the known passengers on board and whether they survived or not. Interestingly shows how many survived from each class- even though the general rule to was women and children first into the lifeboats over 53 children from third class.
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Apr 16, 2012 Krissy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir

This book was written in the 1950s and is probably the definitive book on the subject. Because of when it was done, Lord had the chance to interview many survivors who were still living.

You will recognize some of the stories that have been used in one way or another in various films. But, this book is the real thing. The only fiction that exists is the possible fiction of each survivors memory.

I really liked hearing the memories of the Carpathia passengers and the strangeness of hearing that th...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Natframpton rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Okay we all know what happens in the end of this one. Walter Lord's A Night To Remember has been regarded as the best account of what happened on that dreadful night. James Cameron even used it to help make his multi million, award winning film Titanic.
A Night To Remember starts with the spotting of the iceberg. So we delve straight into the action. We read from many different points of view from the passengers that survived to tell the tale.
Walter Lord spoke to many of the survivors of the shi...more

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Apr 09, 2012 Bryan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Given the immodesty of James Cameron and his film, you might be surprised that this older, probably definitive, account of the Titanic is a slim 100 pages (in this edition, anyway), starting just before the iceberg appears and ending with the rescued survivors en route to New York City. Walter Lord's prose doesn't waste any time on overstatement or melodrama; he treats the basic facts and scenario as matter-of-factly terrifying. His book is a mostly real-time narrative of the two hours or so it...more

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Apr 03, 2012 A.M. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-challenge-list, non-fiction

April 15, 2012 will be the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic tragedy, and our library book club agreed to this work for April's discussion; otherwise, I would have never read it. It is not an event I wish to remember or relive through books or movies.

That said, for anyone interested in a less melodramatic account than Cameron's infamous movie, A Night to Remember is a compelling read - precisely because its overall tone is so detached and the "victims" themselves seemed so aloof through the entir...more

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May 08, 2012 Pamela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book. I admit I am a total sucker for stories about the Titanic. The appeal to me is the glory, the hope, the chaos, and something really being too good to be true. Nothing in life is 100% certain and the Titanic was a perfect example. Time and time again my heart is broken by the stories of the steerage passengers that were never afforded the opportunity to save themselves....and that theme continues to this day in all aspects of life.

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Mar 12, 2012 Ruth rated it 5 of 5 stars

I cannot believe it's taken the impending 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic to compel me to finally delve into Walter Lord's 1955 recounting of the great ship's final hours, A Night to Remember. As detailed in the foreward to the fiftieth anniversary reissue, Lord possessed a lifelong, enduring fascination with the doomed Titanic, perhaps born out of a childhood trip on her sistership Olympia. Irregardless of the origin, Lord's passion for the subject shines in this slim volume's t...more I cannot believe it's taken the impending 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic to compel me to finally delve into Walter Lord's 1955 recounting of the great ship's final hours, A Night to Remember. As detailed in the foreward to the fiftieth anniversary reissue, Lord possessed a lifelong, enduring fascination with the doomed Titanic, perhaps born out of a childhood trip on her sistership Olympia. Irregardless of the origin, Lord's passion for the subject shines in this slim volume's tightly-plotted recreation of the ship's final hours and the sinking's aftermath. Lord was in the unique and enviable position of being able to interview over sixty survivors of the sinking for his book, which he then incorporated into a blow-by-blow recreation of every moment -- from the collision with the iceberg to the Carpathia's rescue of less than a third of the Titanic's total passenger list. Lord's brisk, documentary style makes you feel as if you're watching a film of events unfold, lending the gradually dawning realization of the enormity of the danger facing the ship a depth and intensity that makes this an absolute page-turner.

As Lord comments in his acknowledgements, A Night to Remember "is really about the last night of a small town" -- and by extension the beginning of the end for an entire way of life. I confess that while I've always been susceptible to the "Titanic mystique" I never really thought about the socio-economic repercussions of the tragedy. From the massively wealthy movers & shakers (i.e. John Jacob Astor IV) to the poorest immigrants in Third Class, Lord lays out a convincing argument that the Titanic was the "last stand of wealth and society in the center of public affection" -- to wit, the loss of that class's exclusivity on privilege and relative immunity to bad press. A whole way of life, the close-knit culture of the First Class passengers, an air of civility and chivalry, all of that vanished on that icy night in April, rocking the world to its core and paving the way for the unsettled political and socially charged atmosphere of the 20th century.

This is an even-handed, balanced presentation of the events of April 14, 1912 and its aftermath. Lord manages to present what I feel is a relatively unvarnished view of events, but tells them in such a compelling manner that one never loses sight of the horror and human toll of that fateful day. A Night to Remember is not only an extraordinary document of the ship and her time, but of the best and worst that mankind is capable of, and of the dangers of letting the legend eclipse the great human toll of that night, and of what we can perhaps learn today from the ordinary men and women on that voyage who found themselves called to do extraordinary things. (less)

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About Walter Lord

Walter Lord was an American author, best known for his documentary-style non-fiction account A Night to Remember, about the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

In 2009 Jenny Lawrence edited and published "The Way It Was: Walter Lord on His Life and Books."

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Books by Walter Lord

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“This was the era when gentlemen formally offered their services to "unprotected ladies" at the start of an Atlantic voyage.” — 2 people liked it

“The night was a magnificent confirmation of "women and children first," yet somehow the loss rate was higher for Third Class children than First Class men.” — 2 people liked it

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