She was modern, sleek and stylish, the pride of Italy and the darling of celebrities. She was the Andrea Doria the Italian Line’s beautiful transatlantic passenger liner. In July 1956 she embarked on her 51st westbound crossing with 1,134 passengers aboard. Greg King and Penny Wilson share the story of her final, fateful crossing in The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria: The Sinking of the World’s Most Glamorous Ship.

Her crossing was uneventful. If any passengers feared a Titanic-esque fate, they were reassured by the bounteous lifeboats, modern radar system and, of course, there were no ice bergs. However, there was fog. Thick, pea soup fog. Alas for the Andrea Doria another ship, the Stockholm, was right in her path. Modern radar be damned, the ships collided. 

Heiresses and Hollywood stars, middle-class families returning from dream European vacations, and poor Italian immigrants eager to begin anew in America, all scrambled up oil-slicked decks to muster at the lifeboat stations. Clutching life jackets and each other, they could only wonder if they were going to share the Titanic’s tragic fate.   

Julie Nelson

Constant reader, book selector, shameless promoter of good reads - these are just a few of the things I do as a Collection Development Professional. I love sharing the hidden gems in our nonfiction collection!