Down with the Old Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster

Protestant sermons used theTitanic to condemn the budding consumer society ("We know the end of . . . the undisturbed sensualists. As they sail the sea of life we know absolutely that their ship will meet disaster."). African American toasts and working-class ballads made the ship emblematic of the foolishness of white people and the greed of the rich. A 1950s revival framed the disaster as an "older kind of disaster in which people had time to die." An ever-increasing number of Titanic buffs find heroism and order in the tale. Still in the headlines ("Titanic Baby Found Alive!" the Weekly World News declares) and a figure of everyday speech ("rearranging deck chairs . . ."), the Titanic disaster echoes within a richly diverse, paradoxical, and fascinating America.

Author: Steven Biel
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 06/01/2003
Pages: 300
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
Size: 8.44h x 5.46w x 0.84d
ISBN: 9780393316766

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 11/02/1997 pg. 44
Publishers Weekly 07/14/1997

About the Author
Biel, Steven: - Steven Biel is the executive director of the Mahindra Humanities Center and a senior lecturer on history and literature at Harvard University.