Steven Biel

I am not a Titanic fanatic or in any way participant in Titanic mania of any sort, but I was drawn to the cultural history revealed by the title of Biel's work. In light of many recent discussions related to revaluating the function of monuments to the confederacy and Robert E. Lee, and controversial nonsense about "critical race theory," and even recent commemorations of the 9/11 tragedy, Biel's work provides much to consider regarding how myth-making can shape the historical memory of a disaster. Biel rightly stays within the broad events surrounding 1912 and later commemorations of the sinking, but there seem to be many opportunities for a dialog with other historical events.

Overall, this was fascinating and excellent study, covering attitudes relating to immigration, religion, race, economic status, the suffrage movement, and much more, even for a non-academic reader, like myself.… (altro)

This book isn't so much about the Titanic itself, as about the effect the sinking of the ship had on culture after the disaster. It looked at such things as gender, class and race; also, songs and poems written about the Titanic; also, the books, tv, and movies that came about (this was published before James Cameron's movie, however).

I wish I would have noticed the subtitle before requesting it from the library (or even before putting it on my tbr... did I? It was too long ago). It just wasn't what I was interested in. I skimmed though a lot of it. Probably the most interesting chapter to me was the one that mainly focused on William Lord's book (written in the 1950s), A Night to Remember. Overall, though, it just wasn't interesting to me.… (altro)

As the subtitle mentions, Down with the Old Canoe is a cultural history of the Titanic; it does not describe the sinking of the ship. Biel divides the book into two sections: "Meanings" and "Memories." In "Meanings" he places the Titanic in the history of its time -- 1912 -- and discusses the sinking in relation to the social issues of that time period including the suffrage and labor movements and the ideas of class and problem of immigration. In this discussion the proper place of women in society (thought by many to be in the home) and the emphasis placed on the upper class passengers in accounts of the disaster are featured. Biel explains how both suffragists and anti-suffragists used the Titanic to bolster their arguments for and against the vote for women.

In the "Memories" section, Biel discusses the importance of the Titanic in history from the 1950s through 1990s (when the book was published). He describes the impact of Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember" on the culture in the 1950s, and to a much lesser extent other writings about the Titanic; the Titanic Historical Society; and efforts to discover the Titanic including its discovery and salvage operations in the 1980s.

Highly recommended to people who know something about the Titanic.… (altro)