Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

Von Drehle goes beyond just giving us a blow-by-blow account of how the fire happened. He shows why the fire had the impact it had by putting it in the larger context of labor relations & the political climate of New York City. A significant 1909 strike by shirtwaist makers, combined with a shift in power within the Tammany Machine, made it possible for real steps in reform to be made in the next decade. Of course, it was the horrifying nature of the Triangle fire that provided the impetus for change, but if it had happened 10 years earlier, it is hard to see that it would have had the impact that it did.

Von Drehle does a good job combining s journalist's narrative skill with historian's perspective, something that is not that easy to do. It would have been easy enough simply to focus on the only the fire & the subsequent trial, but the historian in von Drehle understands that the Triangle fire is only important when understood in the larger context.

Everyone who has ever held a job should read this book to get a real sense of perspective. Anyone who spends a lot of time extolling the virtues of free enterprise might consider that this book portrays free enterprise taken to its logical extremes, with fatal & horrifying results. Theoretrically, unrestrained free enterprise may seem fine and dandy, but we have seen the reality of it --- this book chronicles just a small portion of that reality.


Thrilling and poignant history comes alive   June 9, 2004
This is an excellent book! Well researched and wonderfully written. Von Drehle weaves many different threads together to create the world of the Triangle fire; immigrants and their home lands, the garment industry, New York bare knuckle politics, city and state, tenement housing, police, early union organizing and strikes, business owners, suffragettes, news coverage in the newspapers, neighborhoods, the courts, lawyers, and somehow he keeps bringing it all back to the Triangle. His account of the fire is agonizing and compelling at the same time and the way he balances the personal stories while presenting it all in a larger context of society then and now is quite an achievement.

Even his Source Notes, when he describes his search for the trail transcripts keeps you intrigued.

With fine writing/reporting like this who needs fiction! I will be reading more from this author.


The fire that changed America   April 29, 2004
The fire at the Triangle Shirt Waist Company was a horrible accident, which could have been avoided. The technology available consisted of fireproof walls, doors and sprinklers but that was not installed because the company didn't have enough money to purchase it. When one piece of cloth caught on fire the building started to burn. Of the 800 workers, 146 women died, mainly of smoke inhalation caused by over exposure due to only one person being able to exit at a time. Although this was devastating for all members involved, it became a vivid point in the reform of the early twentieth century. These conditions included minimal wages, 16 hour work days, cramping work quarters and dangerous machinery and equipment work. These work conditions often led to strikes and walkouts before the fire. As a result of the fire, the already hard off lower class families, who now suffered from losing their mothers, and wife's, also were one income short of barley making it. While reading this I recognized three main ideas, which could cause the possibility of things being changed; labor, management, government. This book was helpful in learning about the early 20th century factories, hardships and economical problems. The one downfall I found was that the whole book didn't focus on the fire. I was most interested in how the survivors continued on, and the impact this incident had on the future of manufacturing businesses.


A rich picture of America at the start of the century   April 1, 2004
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

David von Drehle's "Triangle" brings alive the world of the early 20th century. New York climbs ever higher; the tallest building is 700 ft, and new ten-storey skyscrapers seem to go up every day. Yet another wave of immigrants crashes ashore. Yet another generation of Tammany politicians take them under their wing. The garment industry industrialises. The process moves from piecework in apartments and basements to factory floors, stuck, improbably, on the eighth and ninth and tenth floors of newly-opened fireproof buildings. Factory owners block the 54-hour week. Women strikers are beaten up by hired muscle; the police arrest the strikers (the owners pay Tammany too much for them to do anything else); wealthy socialites bail the women out.

In the spring of 1911, a fire took hold in the cut-off fabric in the bins of the Triangle shirtwaist (blouse) company. The company was scientifically organized, with open floors for easier movement of materials from one point to another on the production line (although they didn't yet use that term). Not a square inch of space was wasted, as the useless area under the tables was boarded on either side and turned into bins for wasted scraps of cloth. This scientific approach was what made it possible for the fire to take hold and spread so quickly. It crossed the eighth floor in five minutes and leapt up the airshaft. Within ten minutes, more than 140 ninth-floor workers had died. Almost everyone on both the eighth and the tenth floors survived.

Von Drehle describes those fifteen minutes vividly and evocatively. Split-second decisions and luck made the difference between life and death. He brings out the individuality of the victims and how lucky many of them felt to be working in such a relatively well-run factory. And he brings out the horror of those who were unable to save them.

The subsequent reaction to the fire and the pressure that finally got laws passed in 1913 to improve workplace safety are both well described. However, the perspective is entirely a New York one. It would have been interesting to have this put in the context of the nationwide Progressive movement, its peak in 1912 (the 1912 Presidential election isn't even mentioned) and its gradual decline.

The description of the trial is gripping. Just as in the fire itself, minor strokes of luck made all the difference to the outcome. Von Drehle points out the tragic mistakes made by the prosecution, and the previous and subsequent history of the Triangle owners with fires, particularly fires at the end of the season in March that conveniently destroyed unwanted inventory. He points out how the insurance system did little to encourage fire prevention, and leaves the impression of the owners as people who looked on fire as just another commercial risk (and not necessarily a bad risk at that) as opposed to something life-threatening and to be taken seriously.

For me, though, perhaps the most striking image was the description of the investigating police going up to the burnt-out factory after the fire and finding the floors and walls and fixtures still intact. The building was fireproof as advertised. The contents, and tragically the people who worked there, weren't.