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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: 22275
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:
 A brilliant account of a chapter in American history and Jewish history July 12, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The Triangle Fire was accidental and not an act of terrorism -- yet it was in many ways the 9/11 of its day. The random loss of life in New York City, the acts of heroism amidst tragedy, the way in which the event seared the consciousness of the city and the nation, all resonate till this day. Von Drehle's masterful account is not only a classic of historical detection -- who was responsible and why? -- but also of social history. To his great credit, he has also written a book that is essential to an understanding of the history of New York's Jews in the early 20th century. The Triangle Fire occurred at the height of the development of secular/Yiddish culture in lower Manhattan, the world that Irving Howe memorialized in his World of Our Fathers (1976). Now, a generation after Howe's book, Von Drehle's account adds yet another layer of perspective.
Good historical analysis May 9, 2005
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
One of the questions my students always ask me is, "When did the Democratic and Republican Parties switch constituencies?" "Triangle: The Fire that Changed America" is a journalistic/historical hybrid of a book that gives a good answer to this question.
"Triangle" is a gripping book for most of its pages. It tells the story of the disastrous fire in a journalistic style that occasionally gets tedious but for the most part dramatizes and humanizes the event so as to make it more meaningful and interesting. Very often books written in this style sacrifice significance for drama and substance for style. However, Von Drehle does not do this. He carefully links the background of the fire to various progressive reformers and movements within the progressive movement. He goes from tenement houses to Fifth Avenue mansions. He further goes on to suggest that the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, and the resulting political turmoil, is one cause of the shift of the Democratic party from a party that served its rural constituents and used its urban constituents to a party that actively challenged big business and pushed for urban reform. He connects Tammany Hall politics to the New Deal. He suggests that the fire did more than change the laws about fire safety; he suggests it paved the way for the Democratic coalition that would finally develop in the 1930s. His logic is compelling as is his book.
A Part of History most never knew of April 16, 2005
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Just off Wahsington Square the building still stands. A building seen by millions on a daily basis but so few know the tragidy that occured in this building now owned by NYU. A disaster that never should have happened. A fire and tragic loss of life that was completely proventable...yet it happened. This is a fantastic piece of history. Caused by the owners of the shirtwaste factory, their immigrant employees, young girls and women, worked as slaves in this time when labor laws were few if any. A major part of New York and U.S history. The aftermath was the beginning of labor laws that effect us today. No longer can you be locked in your building! That is just the start.
 Good History Lesson---Good Read March 26, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book very much though at times it drags a bit. It seems a little disjointed in places. I found it hard to follow the actual events that transpired with the actual fire----just my opinion. The political background was very interesting to me and probably the most intellectually beneficial part of the story. Some chapters were very gripping, some a bit tedious. The author draws, of course, on known information so sometimes there is more background on characters than I wanted---the lawyers for example----and less info in victims.
In all, it's a great book and a good read but be prepared to slog through some detail.
Chris
Reached peak early, then slowed down... March 7, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This was one of those books I've had in mind for years to read, but never got around to it until now. I wanted not just to read the sensationalism surrounding this horrific tale. I have not made it a habit to read all the disaster books. I've probably read 4 or 5. I tend to stick with epidemiology and disease, such as the 1918 influenza pandemic. But I read about this disaster over 28 years ago, when I worked as a librarian and had to shelve the books dealing with this. I only got a glimpse, but as I read more history it became clear that this was a fire that changed much in the U.S., and I wanted to know why this one specifically had an impact.
The fire itself and the situation both politically and socially surrounding it, are the very things that made me shake my head when people bring up how 'good' the 'good old days' were. Yeah, right...so it was great having people working horrible jobs at outrageous risk to themselves was great, just like having measles, mumps, and rubella was great when there were no vaccines. Makes me want to smack a few heads together when I hear things like this...
Drehle does a fairly good job in hi writing. He is a journalist, and has the background and can do the research. I appreciate his putting a face on the people who would otherwise remain unreal to the readers. But it makes it more excruciating when those people actually die in what you know must have been an awful way to go.
The books slows down after the fire and the initial outrage. The part about the changes made in politics, in the urban planning, and in society should have been more important than they came across as being. There was no extension as to what impact the Triangle had nationally...just a hint really. We know it changed NY law; did it change fire laws for other cities? We know some politicians made a lot of political hay from this, and went on to impact national politics. But I would have liked to have known more about the national implications of this fire. Was it reported nationally? How was it reported? Did it make any of the other textile people sit up and take notice? How? What happened to the many involved in the fire (not just the bosses)? Were there any others who returned to work for these same men, or did they just leave?
I had a lot of questions left for which there were no answers...an interesting book, more than a great one.
Karen Sadler
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