{"product_id":"the-darksome-bounds-of-a-failing-world","title":"The Darksome Bounds of a Failing World","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this original and meticulously-researched narrative history  Gareth Russell utilises the sinking of the Titanic as a prism through which to look at the end of the Edwardian era and the seismic shift of modernity the 1910s have come to mark in the West. Had she survived her first voyage  The Titanic probably would have dated like other ocean liners. Instead  within a week of setting sail on 10th April 1912  the disaster of her sinking had turned her into one of the biggest news stories of the century. Writing in his signature prose  Gareth Russell peers through the portholes of six first-class travellers to immerse us into the Edwardian era while demonstrating how modernity shook up the class system of the age. Lucy Leslie  Countess of Rothes; son of the British Empire  Tommy Andrews; captain of the industry John Thayer and his son Jack; Jewish immigrant Ida Straus; and model and movie star Dorothy Gibson. Each subjects unique story offers insights into the established hierarchy during the fin de sicle of pre-war Britain and America  the Titanics respective spiritual and economic homelands. Through these entwining lives  Russell investigates social class  its mores  its foibles  its accents  its etiquette  its benefits  its casual or intentional cruelties  its potential nobility. Those nuances also invite analyses of the shipping trade  the birth of the movie industry  the aristocracy  the American Gilded Age  the Irish Home Rule crisis  and Jewish-American communities. The Titanic is the vessel in which we can extrapolate lessons on hubris  folly  greed  love  class  magnificent courage and pitiable weakness. She carried thousands of people and  in that way  she still has thousands of stories to tell. Drawing on brand new and unpublished materials  journal entries and film archives from the time  The Darksome Bounds of a Failing World focuses on the symbolism of the Titanic as the floating symbol of Anglo-American success  its clientele an apt illustration of the limitless  technological  financial  possibilities of its time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44960720453685,"sku":"ByrdShop_0008263167","price":90.73,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780008263164.jpg?v=1770392839","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-darksome-bounds-of-a-failing-world","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}