Desperate Hours: The Epic Rescue of the Andrea Doria - Hardcover

by Richard Goldstein (Author)

"A stupendous feat of reportage."
-Ron Powers, cowriter of Flags of Our Fathers

Praise for Desperate Hours

"Goldstein's book is packed with detail. . . . This description of the Doria's sinking is especially moving."
--The New York Times

"A stupendous feat of reportage. Goldstein has virtually put us into lifeboats and sent us hurtling into the North Atlantic on the night of July 25, 1956."
--Ron Powers, cowriter, Flags of Our Fathers, and author of Dangerous Water and Tom and Huck Don't Live Here Anymore

On an extraordinary summer's night in 1956, in a fog off Nantucket, the world-renowned ocean liner Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish liner Stockholm and, eleven hours later, tragically sank. But in that brief time the Doria became, after the Titanic, the most storied vessel of the century, as nearly 1,700 people were saved in an unforgettable rescue punctuated by countless acts of heroism amid confusion, terror, and even cowardice.

In the tradition of Walter Lord's A Night To Remember, Desperate Hours re-creates the ill-fated voyage, from the passengers' parting waves at Genoa, to their last evening highball in the Doria's lavish lounge, to the unbelievable realization that catastrophe was imminent. Richard Goldstein draws from dozens of interviews, court documents, memoirs, and reports that relate never-before-told stories. He also presents technical findings that shed light on the blame for the disaster. The result is a definitive history of a fateful day, a legendary liner, and a deadly shipwreck now considered by scuba divers to be the Mount Everest of the deep.

Front Jacket

On an extraordinary summer's night in 1956, in a fog off Nantucket, the world-renowned ocean liner Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish liner Stockholm. Eleven hours later, the gorgeous ship that employed the finest maritime technology of her day, and was hailed as "a floating art gallery," tragically sank. But in that brief time the Doria became, after the Titanic, the most storied vessel of the century, as nearly 1,700 people were saved in an unforgettable rescue punctuated by countless acts of heroism, amid confusion, terror, and even cowardice.

Launched in 1951, the Andrea Doria proudly marked the resurgence of Italian maritime service. Her loss not only foreshadowed the end of the era of elegant liners, but reasserted the fragility of life for the millions still recovering from the war's destruction. In this fascinating book, Richard Goldstein re-creates the ill-fated voyage, from the passengers' parting waves at Genoa, to their last evening highball in the Doria's lavish lounge, to the final, unbelievable realization that catastrophe was imminent.

Goldstein draws from dozens of interviews that relate never-before-told stories, as well as court documents, memoirs, and reports by psychiatrists who examined survivors. And he presents technical findings that shed light on the blame for this disaster at sea. The result is a definitive history of a fateful day, a legendary liner, and a deadly shipwreck now considered by scuba divers to be the Mount Everest of the deep.

Back Jacket

In the tradition of Walter Lord's A Night to Remember, a dramatic moment-by-moment account of the greatest peacetime sea rescue in history

Advance Praise for Desperate Hours

"A stupendous feat of reportage. Goldstein has virtually put us into lifeboats and sent us hurtling into the North Atlantic on the night of July 25, 1956." ?Ron Powers, cowriter, Flags of Our Fathers, and author of Dangerous Water and Tom and Huck Don't Live Here Anymore

"Riveting. A vivid reconstruction of the chain of small events leading to a disaster and its impact on a rich cast of characters from a vanished era." ?Neil Hanson, author of The Custom of the Sea

Author Biography

RICHARD GOLDSTEIN is an editor and writer for the New York Times, where he has worked since 1980. He is the author of America at D-Day and Mine Eyes Have Seen: A First-Person History of the Events That Shaped America, which was an alternate selection of the Literary Guild. He lives in White Plains, New York.