In 1840 Samuel Cunard, a Halifax, Nova Scotia businessman, took possession of a quartet of small paddlewhell steamers and formed the which would become known as the Cunard Line, the first -- and ultimately last -- great transatlantic passenger service. "The Age of Cunard" brings the whole amazing tale of Cunards successes in the passenger shipping industry vibrantly alive, from the tiny Britannia of 1840, to the Queen Mary 2. From begginng to end, the years of the great passenger ships were truly the Age of Cunard.
Daniel Allen Butler is the author of "Unsinkable"—the Full Story of RMS Titanic; The Lusitania: the Life, Loss and Legacy of an Ocean Legend, and Warrior Queens: RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in World War Two, and now his newest work, The Age of Cunard. Educated at Hope College, Grand Valley State University, and the University of Erlangen, Butler spent eight years as an officer in the United States Army, six of them in Intelligence. During his military service he began laying the foundation for a career as a military and maritime historian by taking every opportunity to do research into a wide range of subjects. He delved into museums, historical archives, public and private records and corporate archives in such diverse places as Dublin and Cobh (Queenstown), Ireland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; the Clyde, Glasgow, Inverkeithing and Perth, Scotland; and London, Liverpool and Southampton, England; Brussels and Mons, Belgium; and Bonn, Germany . In North America, his research has taken him to Halifax, Nova Scotia; New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Newport News, Virginia.
His career as an author began with the publication of "Unsinkable" by Stackpole Books of Mechanicsburg, PA, in March 1998 to considerable critical acclaim and public acceptance. Hailed for its breadth of scope as well as depth of analysis, "Unsinkable" went through four printings in as many months, and sold almost one hundred thousand copies in less than two years, reaching Number 3 on the UPI Bestseller List in late March, and Number 20 on the New York Times Bestseller List in mid-April of that year. A nationwide, three-month signing tour resulted in over 75 public appearances, including a featured lecture at the National Archives, and extensive media coverage. The late Walter Lord, dean of Titanic historians, called the book "a masterful retelling of the Titanic story," while British historian Donald Hyslop praised it as "extensively researched, well written, and eminently readable," and a reviewer for the London Times said that Butler’s writing makes "history become alive again." Butler’s next book, The Lusitania, published by Stackpole in October 2000, is already in its second printing, and has received its share of critical approval as well, American History magazine declaring it to be "the most thorough book yet written about the ill-fated Lusitania," while the Flint (MI) Journal calls it "unforgettable" and "riveting." Noted military historian Albert Nofi declared that "Butler does a masterful job at unraveling the complex issues involved." Butler’s next book, Warrior Queens: RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in World War Two, was released by Stackpole in February 2002.
Currently Butler is writing his fifth and sixth books, The Other Side of the Night: the Carpathia, the Californian, and the Night the Titanic was Lost, the first book ever dedicated to telling the story of the rescue of the Titanic survivors; and The Return of the Queen, a chronicle of the design, construction and maiden voyage of the new super-liner Queen Mary 2. Plans are in hand for Butler’s first venture into pure military history, Khartoum: the Mahdi, Gordon, and the Dawn of Militant Islam, which will recount the great Islamic uprising in 1880, under the charismatic holy man, Muhammed Ahmed, known as the Mahdi, the "Expected One." Butler is also currently working with screenwriter Gail Price to develop a screenplay based on his book The Lusitania.
Following the success of "Unsinkable" Butler became a popular commentator on maritime history, in particular the Titanic disaster, on both radio and television, and was featured prominently in the Miramax Studio’s new edition of their IMAX film "Titanica" (released on video in the fall of 1998) and in A & E’s documentary "Beyond Titanic," first broadcast in September 1998. He has also been a featured lecturer at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the Mariners Museum in Ne
