My comments relating to Volume 1 of this book are equally relevant for Volume 2. This 510 page book is dedicated to Titanic's primary purpose--that of a trans-Atlantic luxury ocean liner.

The authors provide the necessary introduction, followed bu thirteen numbered chapters, Appendix I (a list of passenger accommodations by deck and by class), Appendix II (called a crew list, this is actually a breakdown of crew numbers by shipboard department and job), a bibliography, website references, a gloaary of ship, shipbuilding, and shipfitting terms, abbreviations and symbols key (all the same as Volume 1), acknowledgements, an index, and authors' bios.

As the focus of this volume is on Titanic's First, Second, and Third Class accommodations and amenities, the authors provide general information about how those spaces were designed and installed in the first four chapters. Chapter 2 gives brief overviews of the various interior designs for First Class staterooms, while Chapter 3 goies into the Edwardian toilet and bathing experience aboard this ship, which varied greatly between the classes. Chapter 4 is all about the dining and entertainment experience aboard the Olympic-class liners.

Chapters 5 through 13 take the reader on a deck-by-deck tour of the ship starting with the Boat Deck and ending with the Orlop Deck, Lower Orlop Deck, and Tank Top. Each chapter begins at the forwardmost point on that deck and works its way to the sternmost. The authors note as a significant achievement on the part of the ships' designers the ability to organize the accommodation of all three passenger classes along with that of the crew and some ship functions on a single deck such as that found on E and F Decks. In seeing how th decks were arranged, especially around the Third Class accommodations, it is easy to see why a smaller number of Third Class passengers survived the disaster; the lower decks were a veritable rabbit's warren of passageways and ladder in which a non-English speaker could easily become lost. The authors also debunk one of the enduring social injustices "revealed" in James Cameron's Titanic movie--there were no locked gates preventing Third Class passengers from gaining the Boat Deck and a chance for escape. The complexity of the ship's deck layout was sufficient to do the trick instead.

Again, this is a must have book for anyone seeking a true understanding of the ship and its inner workings as well as any ship modeler seeking to build an accurate representation of the great ship. ( )