The Six: The Untold Stories of the Titanic’s Chinese Survivors

Schwankert (Jiangya), a researcher for a 2020 documentary of the same title, adapts that film’s findings for this captivating account of the Titanic’s eight Chinese passengers, six of whom survived. Not much was previously known about the eight men (though the rescue of one of them—found clinging to a floating door—was inspiration for the ending of James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster film), and Schwankert recaps how he and other researchers followed a twisty trail through archives across China, the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain in search of answers. His story unfolds against the backdrop of the xenophobic 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, from which the eight passengers were exempt because of scheduled employment on freighting vessels departing from America. They were, however, under stringent restrictions on where they could go once they landed—restrictions that Schwankert finds they did not necessarily plan on abiding (the two men who died were planning to jump ship and open a shop in Ohio). Titanic buffs will relish Schwankert’s meticulous reconstructions of events, including plausible escape routes the men took out of third-class steerage, and his tale impressively incorporates the Titanic into the sweeping history of U.S. racial policy and global migration. Indeed, his reflections on how the men’s already semi-covert lives caused them to keep mum about their harrowing experience is the most fascinating element of the book. It’s a satisfyingly fresh perspective on the tragedy. (Apr.)