History of the White Star Line Author:Robin Gardiner There are few names more famous - or infamous - in the history of commercial seafaring than White Star Line. Although to the public, the shipping line is inextricably linked to one event - the tragic loss of the Titanic on the ships' maiden voyage - White Star Line's pedigree stretched right back into the mid-19th century and the boom in commerc... more »ial transatlantic sailing. Even after the Titanic tragedy, the company continued, plying its trade until it was swallowed up by Cunard in the 1930's.
During the researches for his earlier best-selling and highly controversial titles - The Riddle of the Titanic and Titanic: The Ship that Never Sank? - Robin Gardiner has inevitably become highly familiar with the history of the Titanic's owners and, through his researches, is now able to compile the first comprehensive account of this shipping line. Through its pages, the reader will be able to determine that Titanic was not alone in being a victim of the company's cavalier seamanship, that many of the company's archives have mysteriously disappeared, that the company's ownership was labyrinthine (involving, as it did, the noted financier J. P. Morgan), and much else. As the author notes in his introduction, there are few books that can incorporate items relating to Titanic, President Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Adolf Hitler, the Beatles and Jack the Ripper!
Long shrouded in mystery and arguably as much a case of conspiracy as the sinking of the Titanic itself, the history of White Star Line merits close examination. Through the pages of Robin Gardiner's best-seller the mists of a century and a half are swept away to provide a detailed account of this most tragic shipping line. First published as a hardback in 2001, this new paperback edition makes available again a classic account of this controversial shipping line.« less