desperate hours

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. “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.