Cultural Influence
Charles Ives's Orchestral Set No. 2 concludes with a movement entitled, From Hanover Square North, at the End of a Tragic Day, the Voice of the People Again Arose. It recounts Ives's experience waiting for an elevated train in New York City as the news of the sinking of the Lusitania came through. The passengers assembled on the platform began singing "In The Sweet By and By" in time to a barrel organ which was playing the tune. Echoes of their voices can be heard at the start of the music, and the hymn tune itself appears at the end.
The first published book by H.P. Lovecraft was The Crime of Crimes: Lusitania 1915 (published in Wales), a poem on the sinking of the vessel.
David Butler's novel Lusitania (1982) is a fictionalised account of the sinking, and events leading up to it.
Graham Masterton's 2002 novel Katie Maguire (published as A Terrible Beauty in the UK and Black River in France) includes a scene that claims to find evidence of how British intelligence informed the German admiralty that a wanted murderer was aboard the ship, thus encouraging them to carry out the sinking.
Read more about this topic: Barbara Mc Dermott
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