April 2012 is the one hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the luxury ocean liner and the death of over 1,500 people, from aristocrats in first class to the second and third class passengers emigrating to America and the crew working to bring all these people safely from Southampton to New York. The story is familiar, just south of Newfoundland the ship hit an iceberg, sinking, causing families on both sides of the Atlantic to await news of their loved ones. Richard Davenport-Hines devotes a chapter to each class of passenger and describes what a typical experience for each might have been, reminding readers that among the Astors and Vanderbilts were families traveling with as many as nine children, looking for a better life in America. Details such as menus and accommodations bring this voyage to life as the terror of the accident that is to come hangs in the air. A final chapter reunites survivors with their families in New York and talks about the industrial and political implications of the accident. A different approach to this tragedy, Voyagers of the Titanic tells the story of disparate people who now share one thing in common, their connection to the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic.
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