| Dick Estell The Radio Reader Public Radio's Reading Program |
| Airs April 24 thru June 6, 2007 |
Thunderstruck is a real-life story, which brings to life a rich dream of the
Edwardian age as well as a criminal case that at one time was literally the talk of
the globe.
Thunderstruck enmeshes the parallel narratives of two men: Dr. Hawley Harvey
Crippen, a mild-mannered murderer “you can’t help liking”, and Guglielmo
Marconi, whose obsessive quest to invent and perfect the wireless would
eventually change the world. Though the two men never met, their fates were
inextricably linked; when their paths crossed, it made front-page news
worldwide, bringing about the downfall of one of them and furthering the
ascension of the other.
Author Larson said about his work, “What I most want to do is produce a kind of
historical trance---to cause readers to sink deeply into the past, to smell it, hear it,
maybe taste it, and remain there until the last page.”
With a cast of colorful and captivating characters including a manipulative fallen
opera star, a young couple in love and on the run, a charming and steadfast ship’s
captain, a brilliant young forensic scientist, a chief inspector famous for his role
in the Jack the Ripper investigation, and a driven genius inventor, Thunderstruck
is Erik Larson’s best book yet.
Edwardian age as well as a criminal case that at one time was literally the talk of
the globe.
Thunderstruck enmeshes the parallel narratives of two men: Dr. Hawley Harvey
Crippen, a mild-mannered murderer “you can’t help liking”, and Guglielmo
Marconi, whose obsessive quest to invent and perfect the wireless would
eventually change the world. Though the two men never met, their fates were
inextricably linked; when their paths crossed, it made front-page news
worldwide, bringing about the downfall of one of them and furthering the
ascension of the other.
Author Larson said about his work, “What I most want to do is produce a kind of
historical trance---to cause readers to sink deeply into the past, to smell it, hear it,
maybe taste it, and remain there until the last page.”
With a cast of colorful and captivating characters including a manipulative fallen
opera star, a young couple in love and on the run, a charming and steadfast ship’s
captain, a brilliant young forensic scientist, a chief inspector famous for his role
in the Jack the Ripper investigation, and a driven genius inventor, Thunderstruck
is Erik Larson’s best book yet.
| (non-fiction) |
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