Triangle
Books | Business & Economics / Industries / Fashion & Textile Industry
3.9
(53)
David Von Drehle
"Sure to become the definitive account of the fire. . . . Triangle is social history at its best, a magnificent portrayal not only of the catastrophe but also of the time and the turbulent city in which it took place." --The New York Times Book Review Triangle is a poignantly detailed account of the 1911 disaster that horrified the country and changed the course of twentieth-century politics and labor relations. On March 25, 1911, as workers were getting ready to leave for the day, a fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York's Greenwich Village. Within minutes it spread to consume the building's upper three stories. Firemen who arrived at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders simply weren't tall enough. People on the street watched in horror as desperate workers jumped to their deaths. The final toll was 146 people--123 of them women. It was the worst disaster in New York City history. Triangle is a vibrant and immensely moving account that Bob Woodward calls, "A riveting history written with flare and precision."
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More Details:
Author
David Von Drehle
Pages
340
Publisher
Grove Press
Published Date
2003
ISBN
080214151X 9780802141514
Ratings
Google: 4
Community ReviewsSee all
"Excellent work on the Triangle Fire--very readable. The author makes very interesting observations about the role the fire ended up playing in the advance of labor rights, women's rights, safety codes, and political movements--as well as the careers of some key individuals, but again, in a very accessible way. I had to put down the book right before I got to the fire itself to prepare myself to read that section--it was difficult to get through, but only because the facts are such tragic facts. The author is very respectful and doesn't sensationalize or exploit the stories. I struggled a little bit with keeping track of people as he introduces a lot of people in the beginning and tracks their stories through the sequence of events. I found I had difficulty remembering who was who as names kept reappearing. Still, as confusing as that could be, it did give a strong sense of the depth and breadth of the consequences of the fire in terms of human tragedy. I was particularly struck by how some of the deceased were identified after the fire based on the smallest of details. At the end of the book, I took the time to read through the list of names the author provides of the deceased, based on his own exhaustive research. I felt it was almost a sacred task, keeping people alive in the remembering, as it were. Such a pivotal moment in terms of many things we can sometimes take for granted now--but at the same time a warning to keep working for the protection of those rights as they still come under pressure today."
Sandra Hasenauer