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.

About the author

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

Product details

• Authors: Steven Biel
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.06.2003
• EAN: 9780393316766
• ISBN: 978-0-393-31676-6
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 210 mm x 19 mm
• Weight: 441 g
• Subjects: Guides > Motor vehicles, aircraft, ships, space travel > General, dictionaries, handbooks; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous