Streissguth, Thomas (editor). The Sinking of the Titanic. 1st printing. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. 2002. hardcover. a book in the At Issue in History, Opposing Viewpoints Series. isbn: 0737708255. scarcity: fairly common.

The text in this book is not original material, rather it includes excerpts from previous works attempting to show several sides of various issues relating to the Titanic story. It is aimed at a young adult reading level, probably marketed for use in high school settings.

Three subjects are analyzed in this book: early accounts of the disaster including the Inquiries, the issue of the Californian, and some modern perspectives on the sinking. Each chapter includes a brief overview by the editor, setting the scene, as it were, for the article that follows.

Part one, early accounts and the inquiries, includes six chapters. To start, there is a sketchy account of the disaster as reported in Southampton by the local paper, The Hampshire Chronicle with the headline “Wreck of the Titanic, Appalling Loss of Lives; Women and Children Saved”. It covers the anguish and uncertainty of the city’s residents as so many of Titanic’s crew lived in Southampton. Oddly, the editor states this account was printed on April 20th, but the information in the article suggests to me it was written sometime around the 16th or 17th. The article states that the Carpathia will dock in New York on Thursday evening or Friday morning, for example, by Saturday they would have known that the rescue ship had docked thursday evening.

Next there is a brief segment from the New York Sun “A Tragedy Caused by Misplaced Confidence”. This piece attempts to exonerate Captain Smith of fault, blaming the disaster on “ignorance and misplaced confidence”. This article was later reprinted in Marshall Everett’s book on the disaster, Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic, the Ocean’s Greatest Disaster.

The next piece is also excerpted from Everett’s book, “The Titanic’s Crew Ineptly Handled the Ship’s Lifeboats”. It briefly describes how the crew were unfamiliar with each other, which hampered the evacuation, and that no lifeboat drill was ever made. The article goes on to discuss the coal fire in bunker #6.

Following is an excerpt from Senator William Alden Smith’s speech in the U.S. Senate, “Captain Smith’s Indifference to Danger Contributed to the Tragedy”. As many readers will know, Senator Smith was in charge of the American investigation into the disaster. In this portion of the speech he highlights the many warnings that Titanic received of the large ice field ahead, then goes on to clarify what regulations should be changed, and laments the decline of the American Merchant Marine.

Next is an excerpt from Geoffrey Marcus’ excellent book The Maiden Voyage, “The Titanic’s Navigators are Found Negligent”. This article highlights the often overlooked civil trial that took place after the official inquiries were over. It was the first time White Star was judged financially responsible. This case started the ball rolling for many more suits by survivors and relatives of those lost.

Wrapping up this first section is “New Instructions for White Star Line Captains” reprinted from “Regulations Given to White Star Captains” by the White Star Line. Herein the company makes it plain that captains must completely, totally, absolutely, positively and unconditionally put safety above speed at all times.

Part two of the book covers the contentious subject of the Californian, the ship which may or may not have been close enough to Titanic’s position to save all those on board.

The first piece is by former Californian officer Charles Groves, excerpted from an article he wrote in 1957 called "The Middle Watch". It is entitled “The Failures of the Californian’s Captain and Crew”. Groves was the Californian’s third officer at the time. He damns the ship’s captain and second officer for not taking action.

Following is “The Captain of the Californian Defends Himself”, a piece by the ship’s captain, Stanley Lord, excerpted from Peter Padfield’s book on the subject, The Titanic and the Californian. In this piece, Captain Lord tells his version of the story, and explains why his ship could not have been the one seen from Titanic.

Lastly in this section is an excerpt by Stephen Cox from his unorthodox book The Titanic: Hard Choices, Dangerous Decisions called “The Captain of the Californian May Have Acted Reasonably”. In the convoluted style typical of this book, Cox implies that Captain Rostron of the rescue ship Carpathia was irresponsible for steaming to Titanic’s aid, and that Lord was the one with sound judgment by not making the attempt.

Part three covers modern analysis of the disaster. It begins with an excerpt from Michael Davie’s book Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend (alternately titled The Titanic: The Full Story of a Tragedy in the British market) called “The Titanic’s Reckless Captain”. Although Davie’s book is excellent in most respects, this excerpt is not one of his strongest chapters. It meanders all over the story, trying to explain why Captain Smith did what he did.

Following is a most unusual, yet interesting piece excerpted from an on-line article by Roy Brander called “The Titanic Disaster: An Enduring Example of Money Management vs. Risk Management”. This piece is called “The Titanic and Its Times: When Accountants Ruled the Waves”. Essentially, this is a piece about the cost effectiveness of risk taking by large corporations, both then and now.

The next piece is excerpted from a Popular Science magazine article called “What Really Sank the Titanic”, by Robert Gannon. The excerpt is called “Brittle Steel May Have Contributed to the Titanic’s Sinking”. In it the author describes the testing of a piece of the ship’s hull salvaged from the wreck site, which was found to be unusually brittle, even by 1912 standards. It also includes a forensic examination of how the ship sank, broke apart, and impacted on the ocean floor.

Wrapping up this final section is an excerpt from David Brown’s excellent book, The Last Log of the Titanic. The excerpt is called “Captain Smith Inadvertently Sank the Titanic”. In this piece, the author offers up his evidence that steaming the ship forward for a brief time after the collision with the iceberg caused a weakened bulkhead to collapse with the result that the ship’s pumps could no longer keep up with the flooding.

As a whole, this book is an eclectic mix of articles, some of them from excellent sources, others of more dubious quality. Still, the final effect is to introduce a wide variety of subjects and opinions, which makes for interesting reading. One warning though, at roughly 120 pages of text, this book is awfully expensive. The hardcover edition is $27.45, and the paperback version is $18.70.

The paperback version is under, isbn#0737708247.