Dead Wake: The Last Crossing Of The Lusitania

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Many passengers dismissed the German newspaper warning because they believed the Lusitania was impervious to submarine attacks. When have you witnessed similar dismissals of warnings about potential dangers?

2. What factors would have influenced your decision to travel on the Lusitania during wartime, knowing that it carried ammunition as part of its cargo?

3. Which passenger’s story (such as Theodate Pope, Charles Lauriat, or Margaret Mackworth) resonated with you most powerfully? Why did their experience stand out?

4. Larson emphasizes that “timing was everything” for the Lusitania since “even the briefest delay could shape history” (117). Which moments in your life have been altered by seemingly inconsequential timing?

5. What parallels do you see between Captain Turner’s decision to remain on the bridge until the ship sank and leadership responsibilities during modern crises?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. What connections can you draw between Woodrow Wilson’s struggle to maintain American neutrality in 1915 at the start of World War I and contemporary international conflicts? Discuss the conflicting US impulses to be globally involved as a superpower and to insularly disengage throughout the nation’s history.

2. The book depicts submarine warfare as transforming naval combat into a crueler form. What ethical questions have arisen from the continued evolution of military technology since World War I?

3. What insights about institutional behavior does the British Admiralty’s attempt to blame Captain Turner rather than acknowledge its own failures provide?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Which instances of foreshadowing in Dead Wake, such as the German newspaper warning or the lifeboat preparations, were most effective in building tension? Why?

2. What does the submarine’s portrayal as both a powerful weapon and a vulnerable vessel symbolize in relation to the book’s exploration of technology and warfare?

3. How do the contrasting descriptions of daily life aboard the luxury liner Lusitania and the cramped U-20 submarine illuminate different wartime experiences?

4. In Larson’s account, who is most significantly culpable for the disaster—Captain Turner, the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, or Schwieger? If you are familiar with other depictions of this history, discuss the different approaches to dividing the blame.

5. What dimensions do the primary sources like telegrams, log entries, and Room 40 intercepts add to the narrative that might otherwise be missing? How do these documents shore up Larson’s authority as a historian?

6. What evidence supports Larson’s suggestion that Churchill and the Admiralty might have intentionally left the Lusitania vulnerable to lure the United States into joining the war? Is this a believable assertion? Why or why not?