Eighteen Minutes That Changed the World: The Sinking of the Lusitania

Lecture with Diana Preston

The Cunard liner Lusitania sailed from New York on May 1, 1915 only to be sunk by a German submarine without warning six days later. This attack on civilians during the first year of the First World War provoked international condemnation. The heavy loss of life—including 120 of the 200 citizens of the still neutral United States on board—became a major factor in America's entry into the war in the spring of 1917. This is a story of personal tragedy on the scale of "Titanic" but also a geopolitical tale with special resonance in the year we mark the centenary of the outbreak of the "war to end all wars."

Born and raised in London, Diana Preston studied Modern History at Oxford University, where she first became involved in journalism. After earning her degree, she became a freelance writer of feature and travel articles for national UK newspapers and magazines and has subsequently reviewed books for a number of publications, including The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times. She has written many books about a variety of subjects. Her book Before the Fall-Out: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima won the 2006 LA Times Prize for Science and Technology. In late February, 2015 she published her latest book, A Higher Form of Killing, about the use of new technological warfare in the early years of World War I.

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