Down with the Old Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster"I suggest, henceforth, when a woman talks women's rights, she be answered with the word Titanic, nothing more--just Titanic," wrote a St. Louis man to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was not alone in mining the ship for a metaphor. Everyone found ammunition in the Titanic--suffragists and their opponents; radicals, reformers, and capitalists; critics of technology and modern life; racists and xenophobes and champions of racial and ethnic equality; editorial writers and folk singers, preachers and poets.Protestant sermons used the Titanic to condemn the budding consumer society ("We know the end of . . . the undisturbed sensualists. As they sail the sea of life we know absolutely that their ship will meet disaster."). African American toasts and working-class ballads made the ship emblematic of the foolishness of white people and the greed of the rich. A 1950s revival framed the disaster as an "older kind of disaster in which people had time to die." An ever-increasing number of Titanic buffs find heroism and order in the tale. Still in the headlines ("Titanic Baby Found Alive!" the Weekly World News declares) and a figure of everyday speech ("rearranging deck chairs . . ."), the Titanic disaster echoes within a richly diverse, paradoxical, and fascinating America. |
Contents
Foreword NATURE JEERS AT OUR FOLLY | 3 |
APRIL 1912 | 9 |
THE RULE OF THE SEA AND LAND | 23 |
MAMMON | 59 |
Interword A NOBLE STRUCTURE OF ENDURING | 85 |
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER | 143 |
ENTHUSIASTS | 174 |
MISSION TO DESTINY | 203 |
Afterword REARRANGING DECK CHAIRS | 226 |
List of Abbreviations | 235 |
Acknowledgments | 281 |
Other editions - View all
Down with the Old Canoe: A Cultural History Of The Titanic Disaster Steven Biel No preview available - 2012 |
Down with the Old Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster Steven Biel No preview available - 1996 |
Common terms and phrases
Aboard African American American Anglo-Saxon April 19 April 20 Astor boats brave buffs Butt called captain Carpathia celebrated Charles chivalry Christian civilization crew culture death deck described discovery editorial event Explorer film gender greed Haas Harry Harry Elkins Widener Harvard Henry heroic heroism human iceberg interview with author Ismay John June Kamuda labor Lawrence Beesley lesson Library lifeboats liner lives Lord's luxury male manhood masculinity millionaire modern movie myth National Night to Remember Parkhurst political Protestantism quoted Raise the Titanic Robert Ballard roles saster Senate September ship sinking SLPD social Socialist society song steerage story Straus suffrage suffragists survivors tanic THS member tion tional Titanic Commutator Titanic disaster Titanic heroes Titanic Historical Society Titanic Memorial Titanic Tragedy Titanic's University Press Unsinkable Walter Lord White Star Line William woman women and children Women's Titanic Memorial wreck wrote York