From Mt. Lebanon to the ‘sea of darkness’

I had the chance to finally order this book and I am very sorry I did.
Even though I fear I might be accused of trying to keep an author from publishing- here I go.
The author, Mr. Moses, starts off with a lengthy history of Lebanon and finally segues into the Lebanese aboard the Titanic. I am impressed he took the time to find out the proper spelling of their names. It looks like the information he had came straight from this site and he did almost no research what so ever. Their stories are very brief and only a handful are told. Most are just names on the passenger list. And, again- it looks like he didn't even research the passengers. Just put together whatever he found in other books or from this site. I would be very surprised to hear if he actually bothered to track down relatives of these people.
Just very disappointed. And as I have said- interest is waning anyways. This book was a good example that publishers do not know a good Titanic book from a bad one as I pointed out in an earlier thread.
I'd sell the book, but why disappoint someone else!

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Thanks for the warning Mike. If I find a need to research the Lebanese passangers, I'll just use the information here on ET as a starting point. Rather more cost effective that way.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

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Michael S:
I agree with Michael P. The book was very disappointing from a Titanic passenger biography standpoint. The book is less than a hundred pages long, and pages 13 through 52 are a rehash of the history of Lebanon from before the Phoenicians, through the ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman times, up through early Christian and Muslim influences, on to Charlemagne, the Crusades, the Ottoman Empire, and then the Arabic periods.

Then there are a number of general pages about the Titanic. Most of this information reads like a re-condensed version of Reader's Digest. The passenger list is excerpted from Findlay's list. There is much more information on the ET board about the various passengers than there is in this book.

The one bright spot was an April 20, 1912 front page from a New York City Arabic newspaper. But, alas, little was made of it. I was really hoping to see a wealth of new information from Arabic newspapers of the time.

The book is probably an excellent read for someone with an Arabic background who knows little about the Titanic and nothing whatsoever about the fact that there were Lebanese and Syrian immigrants aboard. But for anyone who has read through the biographies on the ET board and is hoping for new information, it is bound to be frustrating.

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Hmmmmmmmmm...sounds like I could do better with a book on ancient history for most of that...and I have such books in my library!

As for that excerpt of Michael Findlay's list, I hope it was properly credited.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

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To Michael Poirer,

Well done and I thank you for pointing out the dangers of this title.

Perhaps somebody could give me guildlines as to where I can get a copy I saw at this years B.T.S Convention, notably on Alan Ruffman's stall. It deals mostly with the Lebanese and I belief it was written in Arabic. Whether this format has been translated into English, remains doubtful.

Any thoughts Folks??

Regards-Andrew W.

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Mikes and Andrew,

There is one other little problem with this book. There was nowhere near 174 'Lebanese' (even including 'Syrians')aboard the Titanic, which is the author's major factual assertion. By my calculations there were 73 Lebanese/Syrians, all in steerage, 31 of whom survived (5 males, 26 females).

The book gives a list of names on p. 101 (the Appendix) which adds up to 84, but includes Turks and probably others (I didn't have the interest to check). Even more peculiar, on p.82, the authors lists: total Lebanese: 174; total Lebanese in steerage: 41. This would leave total Lebanese in First and Second Class: 133. I don't think so!

DG

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Does anyone recall seeing the Discovery Channel series on the Titanic with titles like "Titanic:Shattered Dreams" etc.

They managed to find this 100 year old man in Lebanon who was meant to go with a party of emmigrants including many family friends to America but for whatever reason he didn't take up the chance, so missing the Titanic's maiden voyage. Apparantly it took three months for his village to hear news of the disaster and the deaths of all those in the party.

Regards

Sam

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Sorry people when I last posted here, I honestly thought this thread was lost forever.

David Gleicher, I do value your opinion and perhaps the best solution for me, is to wait until something more concrete is published.

Sam Brannigan, off the top of my head, that story orignates from The Liners which was first broadcasted on Channel4. If my memory is correct that series was repeated sometime late last year and is obtainable in DVD now.

Regards-Andrew W.

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