Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 364.152309421 EAN: 9781400080670 ISBN: 1400080673 Label: Three Rivers Press Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 480 Publication Date: September 25, 2007 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Release Date: September 25, 2007 Sales Rank: 4003 Studio: Three Rivers Press
Product DescriptionA true story of love, murder, and the end of the world’s “great hush”
In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men—Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication—whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.
Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners, scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed, and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, “the kindest of men,” nearly commits the perfect crime.
With his superb narrative skills, Erik Larson guides these parallel narratives toward a relentlessly suspenseful meeting on the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate. Thunderstruck presents a vibrant portrait of an era of séances, science, and fog, inhabited by inventors, magicians, and Scotland Yard detectives, all presided over by the amiable and fun-loving Edward VII as the world slid inevitably toward the first great war of the twentieth century. Gripping from the first page, and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - "More than a saga of violence"
In his opening note, Larson tells the reader that he hopes "to present a fresh portrait of the period 1900 to 1910/ By chronicling the converging stories of a killer and an inventor." The author accomplishes exactly what he intended in this highly researched and detailed account of the lives of Guglielmo Marconi and Hawley Crippen. The back of the book contains over forty pages of sources. I enjoyed this book because it read just like a novel, yet I knew that each action and quote was specifically ... Read More
Rating: - Borrring!
I have not read Mr. Larsen's first book, which I understand is quite excellent. That reputation is the reason I bought this. I am unafraid of intellectual, historical novels that are well written . . . but this is exhausting. I have yet to finish the 390 page book (plus appendices and notes), but am now 280 pages into it and the plot has yet to develop. I believe there is a murder, and I believe Marconi's wonderful wireless invention will help with the murder case. But the two parallel stories of ... Read More
Rating: - An Artful Reconstruction of History
A wonderful, exciting, and vivid look at what life may have been like for and in the time of Guglielmo Marconi, (often cited as the inventor of but, more accurately, the first to successfully commercialize wireless communication). The author painstakingly reconstructs many events in Marconi's life and juxtaposes them against the life of the notorious English murderer Dr. H. H. Crippen using public records and letters.
The genius Marconi struggles for years to perfect his invention to the ... Read More
Rating: - THUNDERSTUCK OUT
I was thunderstruck by Devil In The White City, so why not Thunderstruck. Using a format that was so effective in Devil, Larson interweaves a story of murder back in the early 1900's with that of Marconi and the introduction of wireless communication.
I found the story of Marconi much more riveting than that of Dr. Crippen and the murder of his wife. I was disappointed in the uneveniess of the two storylines. Unlike in Devil where each of the stories warranted equal analysis and narrative, ... Read More
Rating: - Thunderstruck by Eric Larson
Eric Larson has an almost lyrical voice for historical non-fiction storytelling presenting historical fact in a style generally associated with works of fiction. After reading Larson's Devil In The White City, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America I was excited to get my hands on Thunderstruck. It was a disappointment. Larson chose Edwardian England and the dawning of the 20th century as the backdrop for his tale The period was ripe with growth and discovery. ... Read More
- Borrring!
- An Artful Reconstruction of History
- THUNDERSTUCK OUT
- Thunderstruck by Eric Larson
