RMS Lusitania

Within hours of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a submarine off the Cork coast in May 1915, a narrative was created and over time, emerged as the "truth" of the incident. Throughout the world many people still today perceive the sinking of the Lusitania was a savage attack on an innocent vessel that brought America into the war. In his new book, Michael Martin shows that the ship wasn't an "innocent" vessel and was not the catalyst for American involvement. Examining a raft of existing and new evidence, this book brings a more critical perspective to the established fact, including how the RMS Lusitania had a far wider function than just carrying passengers across the Atlantic; how specific "military type" duties were assigned to the ship despite innocent civilians being on board; and asks some darker questions about how the 1,200 civilians on board that day were being viewed by the military powers, while acknowledging the human tragedy of this historic incident.
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