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 enlarge | Author: David Von Drehle
Publisher: Grove Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 18246
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 080214151X
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780802141514
ASIN: 080214151X
Publication Date: August 16, 2004
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| Customer Reviews:
 An Excellent Update and Companion to Leon Stein January 25, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I first read Leon Stein's "The Triangle Fire," which discusses the Fire and its aftermath. I made an excellent choice in von Drehle's book as a followup because of its depth of research and its discussion of factors leading up to the fire, including the strike that preceded it. Excellent parallels are drawn between the 1911 Fire and the 2001 WTC disaster, right down to the workers being able to look out the windows at a beautiful clear day, and realizing that with the fire directly behind them, their only choice is to jump. Heartbreaking, enraging and very educational. Then, as now, business emerges unscathed while the workers pay the price - the Triangle owners went back to work, were completely exonerated of their negligence and were paid for their "trouble."
Burned into History January 1, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
The Triangle Waist Company Fire of March 25th 1911 was a horrific event that claimed the lives of 146 garment workers. It was witnessed by thousands of people on a clear and sunny New York City spring day. These people saw workers trapped by vicious flames pressing them up against windows until the weight of their bodies forced them out smoking and burning as they fell the 100 feet to the pavement below. David Van Drehle does more than simply convey this nightmare event in all its gritty, grisly detail. He connects this event to its context and then explains its impact on American labor conditions.
There were several historical trends that converged; a growing woman's movement looking for a cause that even the richest women could champion, the increasing automation of garment manufacturing that caused the crowding of workers on factory floors many feet above the city streets, the role of machine politics in urban life that was sensitive to changing demographics and public sentiment. Van Drehle shows how the fire became a firestorm for the labor movement resulting in Tammany Hall shifting from oppressing workers to promoting and insuring through the landmark Factory Improvement Commission greatly improved working conditions in the State of New York.
This commission did more than simply push for changes in fire safety laws. It included protections for working women and children, tougher factory inspections and improved sanitation in bakeries. In addition to all that, the commission highlighted the roles and boosted the careers of three public figures that played landmark roles in urban politics over the next thirty years; Robert Wagner, Al Smith and Francis Perkins.
My only quibble is the number of pages spent on the manslaughter trial of the Triangle Waist company factory owners. Its very interesting reading and highlights the critical issue of whether one of the exits was locked by the owners in violation of health and safety codes. But the trial illuminated nothing about the legacy of the Triangle fire and could have been dealt with in a succinct couple pages.
That said, Van Drehle does a terrific job putting the reader on the 9th floor with the trapped workers and conveying the fear, panic and horror of those few deadly minutes. He also makes the workers come alive as mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, workers, activists and most of all as people not just victims. He combines great history with great heart to produce a memorable, vivid and worthy book.
 How Much Has Changed? December 24, 2005
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Journalists have an advantage when it comes to writing history. They know to get to the point, tell it like a story, and make it personal. David von Drehle does just that in Triangle and it's almost like reading an account in the Sunday newspaper or The Atlantic Monthly.
But you don't read history in a vacuum and it's hard to read Triangle without thinking about the similarities to today's working conditions. There's no doubt that conditions have improved since 1911 and if sweatshop conditions do still exist in America, at least it's illegal. However, when you read how the workers were locked into the factory, they didn't get lunch breaks, the bosses made them work unpaid hours, and management actively discouraged unionization, it's difficult not to think of Wal-Mart.
Von Drehle doesn't draw any direct lines from the past to the present, but they are there the same way they were in Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle a hundred years ago. When The Jungle came out, people were outraged and it wasn't long before legislation was passed to clean up the meatpacking industry. On the other hand, when Fast Food Nation came out, everyone read it, but nothing has changed in the fast food industry or is it likely to. It's also unlikely that Triangle or any other book about today's workers and consumers will create an atmosphere for reform. The socialism that drove the heroes of the Triangle reforms is gone, at least in America.
Number Eleven October 28, 2005
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
A reviewer, John Matlock, mentioned the number eleven. I never thought of this before, but--146 deaths--1 plus 4 plus 6 equals 11.
I read this book for research I was doing for a term paper. Fascinating! I have been interested in the Triangle fire since I saw a TV movie starring Tovah Feldshuh and Tom Bosley in the late 70's. Since then I have logged onto numerous websites and read several books. This is one is superb! I actually FELT the despair and hopelessness that these people felt when they realized they were trapped with no escape! I can't begin to imagine having to make a choice either to jump or to stay behind and burn! I highly recommend this book!
A riveting account of a critical event August 30, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
von Drehle weaves his story form many threads: the immigrant experience, the labor movement, womens suffrage, workplace safety, Tammany Hall, progressive politics, and others. The 1911 Triangle fire is an event that many people have heard about and probably think of as a great past tragedy, but without knowing the details. I was fascinated to see how all the pieces related.
The factory owners, although acquitted, come out looking pretty bad. They apparently had a history of setting fires deliberately (years before, and at times when the building was unoccupied) to "manage unsaleable inventory" and collect insurance--a practice that was widespread in the garment industry of the time, and that led owners to avoid sprinklers and other measures that might have interfered with such fires. They kept most factory doors locked to prevent theft that they estimated at $25 annually--and one of them was arrested and convicted just two years later for doing the same thing in his new factory. That time, he was fined $20 by a judge who then apologized for the inconvenience.
The politics of the time are much too complex to summarize, but von Drehle really brings them to life. Charlie Murphy, one of the great powers behind the Tammany machine, is a particularly interesting character for having left essentially no writings of his own (this was a man who understood the permanent risks of a permanent record!). Although initially, Murphy (and other Tammany leaders) opposed the labor movement at first, he came to understand the changing nature of the New York immigrant society and eventually embraced reform. It may all have been in the interest of votes, but he wasn't just your ordinary corrupt politician.
Now, not 100 years later, and for all the effect the fire had on labor unions and industrial working conditions, the people involved are known primarily to historians--FDR makes a cameo appearance, but that's about it. This book casts a welcome light on many important characters.
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