Book Signing: Saturday, June 23rd, 2018, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

The Cruiser Houston (Images of America)

Galveston Bookshop will host a book signing on Saturday, June 23rd from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. with Houston author Mark Lardas and his newly published history of the WWII flagship called Houston.

The cruiser Houston was the first warship named for the Bayou City, and the ship proved a favorite of the Texans who live there. It was also a favorite of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who traveled on the Houston no fewer than four times. Houston was twice the flagship of the US Navy’s Asiatic Fleet. In the opening days of World War II, it battled the Imperial Japanese Navy, culminating in its midnight loss at the Battle of Sunda Strait. Mr. Lardas’ book tells the story of this magnificent ship and the city of Houston’s reaction to its namesake’s loss.

Mark Lardas is the author of numerous books on maritime, naval, and Texas history including The Battleship Texas, a history of the battleship USS Texas. A resident of the Houston area, he has maintained a longtime interest in the cruiser Houston. With generous assistance from the Houston Maritime Museum, the University of Houston, Sam Houston Park, and individuals equally enthralled by the cruiser, he has assembled a fascinating collection of images illustrating the life and death of this storied warship, from the first plans to build it, until its dramatic end in unequal combat. He also documents the reactions to the ship’s loss and how its memory has been preserved.