Review of Steve Turner’s “The Band That Played On”

As the Titanic sank, it was widely reported, a band of musicians played the hymn “Nearer My God to Thee.” Steve Turner writes about the incident, and the musicians, in his new book, The Band That Played On. There was some discrepancy among the eyewitnesses as to the particular tune the men last played, and in what manner they played it (Standing? Kneeling? Even as water rushed over them?). But Turner explains why the popular imagination was captured by the idea of musicians faithfully playing a hymn as the Titanic sank beneath the waves:

The story of their gallantry came to epitomize a spirit of courage, duty, and self-sacrifice. It was held up as proof that manhood wasn’t withering away through self-indulgence, frivolity, and lack of religion. Although the disaster itself was widely regarded as a comeuppance for the powerful and wealthy who had become fixated on speed, luxury, and the domination of nature, the behavior of the musicians showed that worthy ‘old-fashioned’ values of chivalry, fortitude, and love of neighbor still persisted.

Turner does a serviceable job collecting the biographies of the musicians and recreating the cultural context that found inspiration in the story of their last song. In the end, though, the book has the feel of an assignment completed at the request of a publisher for the 100th anniversary of the famous sinking, which in fact the book was.