Review by Felix Bustelo

This book is the most recent volume in the Dover Publishing series of ocean liner related books. This time, William H. Miller, Jr., the renowned liner historian, tackles the ships that sailed under the Stars and Stripes during the 20th Century.

For most of the last century, American liners and passenger ships did not enjoy the same popularity that the foreign flagged ships of the Cunard, French and Italian Lines did. Part of the problem was due to the lack of a truly outstanding American flagship for most of the 1900’s; at least one that had the elegance and appeal that ships like the Queen Mary and Normandie had. Another factor against U.S. ships was Prohibition during the 1920’s. Americans seeking to travel to Europe during the decade that saw tourism abroad grow also sought to escape the ban of alcohol. So, rather than booking passage on “dry” U.S. flagged ships travelers crossed the Atlantic on foreign ships where wine and liquor flowed unrestricted. It really wasn’t until the post World War II period that U.S. liners enjoyed the success of their European counterparts.

This book provides a photographic survey of American passenger ships and liners with approximately 200 black and white photos. The book is broken down into 10 chapters, each covering different eras or significant ships. A chapter is dedicated to the Leviathan (ex-Vaterland), America, Independence and Constitution and of course the United States. The other chapters cover lesser known smaller liners, motor passenger ships and “combo” passenger/cargo vessels and one chapter takes a look at those ships that served during World War II. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction and extended captions for each photo provides historical information and specifications.

As an amateur liner historian, this book provides an interesting survey of American passenger shipping and it actually introduced me to some vessels that I did not know of before reading this title. As a ship modeler, I must admit that I am little disappointed with this volume. Granted that this book is intended to be a more general history of U.S. liners and passenger ships rather than a monograph on one particular ship, I found the photos in other Dover titles to be more useful as a modeler. In particular, I was looking for some photos of the Moore-McCormick Lines liners SS Brasil and Argentina only to find one far-away shot of the pair as they appeared in 1987 as the Bermuda Star and Canada Star sailing past the World Trade Center in happier times.

Even with its shortcomings, this book is a nice addition to my library and I do not regret purchasing it. It provides a good review of a subject that really hasn’t gotten much coverage and is a fair starting point for researching a modeling project.