The Band that Played On:

The Extraordinary Story of the 8 Musicians

Who Went Down with the Titanic

by Steve TURNER

221 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1595552198

(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson)

This book counts for

My Dewey Decimal Challenge

and for

The 2011 Non-Fiction Challenge

Many books and documents have been published on the tragedy of the Titanic. But never before this book by Steve Turner has anyone focused exclusively on the 8 musicians who kept playing as the majestic boat was going down and under.

The title promises some very interesting new information.

And yes indeed, the writer seems to have done lots of research. He dedicates a chapter of the book to each player; he tracks where they came from, their family connections and stories,  their education and background, and how they came to be playing on the Titanic. He also tries to find out if they knew each other before the fatal expedition.

Many pages are also dedicated to specifying what they were really playing as they sank, as there has been some kind of possible confusion in previous publications on the topic.

Turner also focuses on reasons and responsibilities for the sinking, with all the financial aspect.

If you are interested in knowing everything about the Titanic, you should certainly read this book; it is full of detailed information.

Unfortunately for the reader, the style is extremely dry and absolutely not elaborate. I may be of the old generation, or is it because I learned English in Europe, but I am still very uncomfortable when I read a non-fiction book where the contraction is used, as “isn’t” instead of “is not.”

The book appears to me as a good first draft where the author collected all his data, but one more step would have made it so much better. He could have written a superb book based on all this information. So my overall impression was disappointment.

Resources:

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