Although it lacks cumulative excitement in its narrative, the book has considerable merit. Mr. O'Connor focuses on two passengers, each symbolic of the Edwardian Age that was ending that April night in 1912. One is Col. John Jacob Astor and the other is the "Unsinkable" Mrs. John J. Brown. Mr. O'Connor gives a lively pen portrait of each. The punch line on Mrs. Brown is a fair sampling of his style: "Social success may have gilded the Missouri Lily, but she was still Leadville Johnny Brown's unpredictable bride."

Supporting characters more exceptional to the "cozy sybaritism," as he terms it, of the Edwardians, include Isidor Straus and William T. Stead. the British editor. In addition, the first chapter gives thumbnail sketches of such travelers as Benjamin Guggenheim, artist Frank Millet, and Broadway's Henry B. Harris, "a prominent representative of that twilight world where art and commerce have their turbulent confluence." For the rest, this is a retelling of the first and last voyage of the most glamorous ship of her day, with frequent discursions, occasional bits of dialogue that have the ring of improvisation about them, and a good deal of interesting data about icebergs, early days of wireless and ship construction. Liberal quotations from survivor accounts add greatly to the value. It is to the credit of Gold Medal Books that they have brought out this second-best book in a limited field.