A specialist in modern British cultural history, Stephanie Barczewski is Professor of History at Clemson University in South Carolina, USA, where she has taught since 1996. In 2005 she became Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities at Clemson. She is the author of numerous books.

• Introduction; 1. What Have We Struck?; 2. The Best Traditions of the Sea; 3. Heroes and Villains; 4. Jack Phillips; 5. Wallace Hartley; 6. Thomas Andrews; 7. Edward Smith; 8. William Murdoch; 9. Belfast; 10. Southampton; 11. Queenstown; Epilogue; Appendices; Index.

A story that never loses its power to shock... those who have not previously read a detailed account will find this one absorbing...The author gives us a number of fascinating potted biographies, including that of Jack Phillips, the Titanic's wireless operator, Wallace Hartley, bandleader of the ship's eight-man orchestra, and Captain Edward Smith, master of the ship on its first and only voyage. It is blundering Smith who most captures the imagination. In the photographs he stands there, every inch the venerable sea captain, holding the lead of a giant white dog. One finds it hard to believe that he could be so criminally irresponsible as to disregard the numerous ice warnings and continue to race towards New York while other ships had dropped anchor. There was not just one iceberg; when dawn came on that terrible 15 April, the survivors in the boats saw a horizon dotted with great chunks of ice