asakiyume | Entries tagged with doug ross

We have come to the end of the Titanic week! My final question for Doug regards further reading.

You have a great reading list at the back of your book. Is there one book that you keep coming back to over and over again, and if so, which one and why?

Doug's reply:

I read all of those books listed at one time or another, some of them twice, in addition to several other books related to Titanic and ocean liner travel. I think one which I could read over and over again like the bible is David Brown’s book because it is so different from the rest, very contentious within the Titanic community, but yet it makes you think a lot about what if he’s right and we're all wrong about what we understand about that night?

Also, the book written by twelve different historians called Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic: A Centennial Reappraisal is great as it offers different views of Titanic from different expert opinions and I love the detail and academic nature of the book.

from the book description

Offering a radically new interpretation of the facts surrounding the most famous shipwreck in history, The Last Log of the Titanic is certain to ignite a storm of controversy.

from the book description

Following the basic layout of the report, this team provides fascinating insights into the ship herself, the American and British inquiries, the passengers and crew, the fateful journey and ice warnings received, the damage and sinking, protocol and process of rescue, the circumstances in connection with the SS Californian and SS Mount Temple, and the aftermath and ramifications around the world.

Link to Doug's book

Today's question for Doug involves a resource in our area, the Titanic Historical Society. It was created in 1963 by Edward Kamuda, who back in the 1950s reached out to the survivors of the Titanic, asking them if they would be willing to share their memories. He created the first LP album recording of them sharing those memories. Various people also donated their souvenirs--including a square of carpet from the ship!

Have you been to the Titanic Historical Society's museum in Indian Orchard [a neighborhood in Springfield, MA]? If so, what's it like? What's the best part?

Doug's reply:

Yes, several times. I actually met the founder of the Titanic Historical Society, Ed Kamuda, a few years before his passing. The first time I met him, he gave me a little pop quiz on ocean liners, and I got them all right, and he said to my mother, "You got an expert right here." You never forget things like that.

I think the best part is that it was established in my hometown, and that’s something positive I can say about the city where I grew up. Also, two of Titanic’s passengers who died lived in Springfield. Milton Long, son of Judge Charles Long, a former mayor of the city, and Jane Carr, who was a third-class passenger whom I believe lived in nearby Windsor Locks prior to Springfield. Springfield has so much hidden history that one would be surprised to learn about.

Photos of Milton Long and Jane Carr

Link to Doug's book

Current Music: Safara: Mi Rareza Mi Bellleza

Today my question for Titanic enthusiast Douglas Ross is this:

You've been interested in the Titanic for a long time. How (if at all) has your focus changed?

Doug's answer:

I have always been interested in the general story of Titanic and the lessons incorporated into maritime law, which I call the Civil Rights Act of the sea for its groundbreaking and world-shattering changes that endure until this very day, but now my focus has slightly shifted to incorporate the broader world, such as how racism affected Blacks traveling back and forth between the United States and Europe. I'm also more interested in certain passengers and crew, such as the White Star Line chairman J. Bruce Ismay, who is a very complex man that I have grown to sympathize with on a personal level, but I wasn’t always this way towards Ismay.

J. Bruce Ismay as a young man
(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

J. Bruce Ismay as played by Frank Lawton in the film A Night To Remember (1958), in a lifeboat, as the Titanic sinks behind him

J Bruce Ismay as played by Jonathan Hyde in James Cameron's Titanic (1997), same scene

ETA --Doug commented on Twitter about film representations of Ismay, saying that there are "several films on Ismay, all bad with the exception of SOS Titanic and A Night to Remember."

His list of other offerings:
--Titanic (1996 CBS miniseries)
--Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) [A documentary film]
--Titanic (2012) [a four-part TV drama]
--Titanic: Blood and Steel (2012) [a 12-part TV drama]
--Titanic documentary (2011)

(Link to Doug's book)

Current Music: Safara: Dejese Querer

Let me introduce you to Douglas Ross via his Amazon bio:

Douglas Ross is a lifelong Titanic and ocean liner enthusiast and a nonfiction writer who has written political and social articles in his local newspaper. Formerly a human rights and disability commissioner in Massachusetts, he has advocated for the civil rights of others in the past.

A resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Douglas enjoys reading historical books, bicycle riding, watching historical films and documentaries, exploring cities and towns and riding trains and buses of the United States. He is a fan of Great Britain, Lucille Ball, Princess Diana, Morgan Freeman, Lyndon Johnson and Samuel Cunard. (read more)

He is the author of The Life of a North Atlantic Liner: Royal Mail Steamer Titanic:

Recently, I put some questions to him about his long-standing interest in the Titanic. I'm going to share a question--and Doug's response--a day throughout the week.

TODAY'S QUESTION: Can you describe your first experience with the Titanic and how you began to realize you loved it?

My love of Titanic began in elementary school in 1996. Two of the fourth grade classrooms (Room 10 and 11 respectively) at Dorman Elementary School in Springfield, MA, were doing a reading project as part of the general curriculum on the Titanic for about two weeks. What fascinated me was the fact that a supposedly unsinkable ship was lost, sank with a huge loss of life, and then was discovered years later.

Prior to Titanic I was obsessed with tornadoes and the awesome power of weather and city and school buses, but that changed once Titanic entered my life, which was exactly 25 years ago. My obsession was not always taken seriously, and it was at times used against me during very rough periods in my public education, when I was made fun of for liking a ‘’white’’ disaster because a mixed black person liking something from 1912 was seen as peculiar to many people of all backgrounds.

Current Music: Sia: Cheap Thrills

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Asakiyume mita

Entries tagged with doug ross

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