There's a powerful appeal in the 'I didn't know that' effect. I love it when people say, 'Gosh, I didn't know that.' — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
There's something so relentless and foul about Hitler and his people, and the way things progressed from year to year. It just… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
We, of course, have the power of hindsight in our arsenal, but people living in Berlin in that era didn't. What would… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
My office is tiny. I think most people would be shocked if they came to my home and saw it. It is,… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
It troubled me that we had these reports of torture of detainees, we had people jailed at Guantanamo Bay who couldn't even… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
Place has always been important to me, and one thing today's Chicago exudes, as it did in 1893, is a sense of… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
Hitler was such an anomalous character - he was so over-the-top chaotic in his approach to statesmanship, his manner and in the… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
My favorite zone is from 1890 -1915, that zone that spans the overlap of the so-called Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
It was a civilian ship, and the Lusitania could outrun any submarine. So this population of people was very confident that Cunard… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
I never recreate dialogue. I have often been asked by people, 'You must have made this up because this is dialogue, right?'… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
The Lusitania is important, of course, because this is where Germany began its maritime campaign using this brand-new weapon. We have to… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
Digression is my passion. I love telling the main stories, but in some ways, what I love most is using those narratives… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
I've heard from the movie marketplace that James Cameron did such a killer job with 'Titanic' that it's almost impossible to do anything better. — Erik Larson Copy Share
As a rule, I am very skeptical of tying books to anniversaries. I don't think readers care. I also feel that it just about… — Erik Larson Copy Share
“look as if they had been plucked from the Palace of Versailles or a Jacobean mansion—that you were aboard a ship being propelled far… — Erik Larson Copy Share
That's what I love about history - nuance. I don't believe in unalloyed heroes. Everyone's got warts, and everyone's got a surprise side. — Erik Larson Copy Share
“Holmes was charming and gracious, but something about him made Belknap uneasy. He could not have defined it. Indeed, for the next several decades… — Erik Larson Copy Share
. . . why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow. — Erik Larson Copy Share
“At present," he said, "I am responsible for conveying my associates to a place called Chicago. I understand it is somewhere in the hinterland.” — Erik Larson Copy Share
I knew from an online search that the Wisconsin State Historical Society, on the vast University of Wisconsin campus, held the papers of Sigrid… — Erik Larson Copy Share
Dodd continued to hope that the murders would so outrage the German public that the regime would fall, but as the days passed he… — Erik Larson Copy Share
I envy other writers who claim to have a backlog of books they'd like to write. — Erik Larson Copy Share
Trying to find ideas is the hardest part of my job. You'd think it would be the most fun. Just sitting around reading whatever… — Erik Larson Copy Share
“Her blind endorsement of Hitler’s regime first faded to a kind of sympathetic skepticism, but as summer approached,” — Erik Larson Copy Share
“Perhaps, Herr Ditzen, it is less important where one lives than how one lives.” — Erik Larson Copy Share
I figured, correctly, that Berlin in February was not a destination coveted by tourists. I found good airfares on Lufthansa, an airline I quite… — Erik Larson Copy Share
“It was truly a transitional moment: There he was, at the cusp of the twentieth century, using the telephone to send a telegram.” — Erik Larson Copy Share
