TITANIC First Accounts: Tim Maltin ed. (non-fic) 375 pp

I saved the last 5 pages of this book to finish today, the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, April 15th, 1912.  Everyone knows the tragic story of the Titanic.  No need to go into it here as there have been legions of books, accounts and even movies and documentaries, all playing on the tragedy of hubris.  There are many educated guesses as to who was at fault, much going over of the lives lost and the discrepancies between those saved from first class and those lost in steerage class.  This book, "Titanic," is a first hand account containing transcripts from the two court inquiries in England and in the United States, both within the month following the disaster.  The book also includes firsthand accounts by Lawrence Beesley, Margaret (the Unsinkable Molly) Brown, and many others of the survivors.  Reading firsthand accounts is always fascinating and important, because there is so much false information floating around based on romanticized fiction and movies.  Parts of the book are repetitious because there might be several different accounts from people in the same lifeboats.  Still, the voices are different, and sometimes the information.  It gives one an idea of how courts have to sift through differing accounts to arrive at the truth.  One immutable truth, however, is the bravery of both those who went down with the ship and those among the saved who lost loved one while experiencing the perils of the sea in subzero temperatures.