Floating Palaces

This latest book by William H Miller, who has authored a large number of maritime books, is an economy sized pictorial survey with 120 pages of the golden years of passenger liners which sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.  From the mid-1890s a race was on between the merchant navies of the recently unified Germany, Britain and France to build the most luxurious and fastest ocean liners. The first contender was the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. The large vessels that followed each tried to outdo the previous one in terms of size and interior design. Using famous interior designers, every part of the new ships was designed, from the cutlery and china to the bedrooms to the boat decks. Through Kronprinzessin Cecilie, Mauretania, Aquitania, Olympic, Titanic, Imperator, Vaterland, Ile de France and Paris, ships grew grander and more luxurious. The process continued into the 1930s, with the Empress of Britain and the Art Deco Normandie, often considered the finest liner ever built, and the Queen Mary, more traditional but which pushed the boundaries of design away from the traditional country house look of the Edwardian era. Each new vessel brought with it the finest of interiors a tradition which continues today with the many new cruise vessels, all vying for the public's interest and affection. The book presents a collection of illustrations in both colour and b/w of some of the finest ships ever built.