Richard Davenport-Hines

A study of the life and ideas of the poet W H Auden examined within the context of the wars, ideologies, spiritual pursuits and sexual attitudes of the 20th century.

The author views the Titanic as a paradigm of Edwardian society. At the bottom of the ship was the steerage class, filled with emigrants hoping for a better life in the New World. Above them were the second class citizens bouyed-up by their prosperous respectability. And on the upper decks were the rich.