Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

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Summary: "Triangle" fires historical imagination, indignation
Review: Incendiary disasters grab headlines. The sight and sound of humans consumed by fire horrify onlookers; the profound shock of loss often compels introspection, investigation and response. Just as the United States underwent such a process in the fall of 2001, so did New York in the spring of 1911 when 146 employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory perished in a ghastly inferno on the eighth, ninth and tenth floors of the Asch Building. David Von Drehle's account of that fire -- of its causes, its victims, its consequences -- "Triangle," is social history at its best. Meticulous in detail, riveting in its narrative and perceptive in its analysis, "Triangle" captures the reader's attention from its first paragraph and never lets go.

This human-caused catastrophe reflects the wrenching social changes occurring in the United States at the onset of the twentieth century. Von Drehle deftly interweaves feminism, immigration, industrialization, and progressivism in his analysis of the Triangle fire. Events as disparate as the explosion of Mt. Vesuvius and pogroms in the Pale of Settlement in Russia find a place in his explanation as to how the Triangle workers found their way to New York. Readers experience steerage, sweatshop conditions and the tang of New York immigrant life as Von Drehle humanizes the victims. At the same time, he presents an unbiased picture of the two owners of the factory; their cupidity rivals their ambition and their own immigrant backgrounds reflect and refract the American drive for success.

The single greatest strength of "Triangle" is Von Drehle's talented depiction of the significant men and women whose arrogance and idealism, courage and cowardice, ambition and altruism clash throughout the narrative. We meet gutsy Clara Lemlich, a Russian Jewish immigrant who is so devoted to economic justice that she continues her organizing and exhortations despite being brutally beaten by goons hired by the bosses. Charles F. Murphy, Tammany Hall's feared boss, becomes the agent through which the Democratic Party transforms itself into the voice of urban liberalism. Max D. Steuer, himself a former garment-shop worker, gains legendary status as the attorney whose brilliant cross-examination of a bewildered survivor results in the acquittal of the beleaguered factory owners.

It was not just a locked door that caused the death of over 140 workers. David Von Drehle accurately ascribes responsibility to an inert New York City political bureaucracy that tacitly encouraged factory owners to build deathtraps disguised as places of employment. The Triangle fire occurred at a time when unions were struggling to find their place, when the police were in the pockets of industrialists, when women were politically voiceless. "Triangle" serves to remind us that disaster lurks whenever the drive for profit overwhelms the need to protect the powerless. This sensitive, comprehensive and inspiring social history admonishes, instructs and inspires.

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Summary: A Trajady That Lead to the Democratic Party
Review: Is there something about the number eleven? There was 9/11 that killed more people than any other workplace disaster. But there was also 1911 and the Triange Waist Fire. As with 9/11 this fire marked a turning point. The fire lasted only about a half hour. It killed 146 workers, most of them young immigrant women.

The book tells the story well, not only the few minutes of the fire itself, but setting the scene in the context of its time. Fire sprinklers had been invented by then, but there was no incentive to install them. The insurance companies charged the same if they were installed or not. The exit doors were locked, because of the owners fear that the employees might steal things.

In an interesting manner, the author traces the aftermath of the fire to the establishment of the Democratic party as the champion of urnan liberalism and elevated F.D.R. to the Presidency.

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Summary: well-researched book on the disaster and the times
Review: One hundred forty-six people --- predominantly young women --- died in the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on March 25, 1911. For 90 years, until September 11, 2001, it was the worst workplace disaster on record for New York City. Even worse, the society and labor laws at the time did not allow for enough safety precautions that would have saved these women's lives.

The author gives a very good account of the burgeoning feminism in new York at the time, writing of the unfailing Clara Lemlich who picketed and protested for women's rights, even as men were sent after her to beat her up. He also tells of Tammany Hall, the political machine that drove New York in the early 1900s. he also writes of the situations and pursuits of the many young women, primarily young immigrant women, who worked in the factory in bad conditions and for very little pay. And then he writes a full account of how the people died in the fire --- burning, asphyxiation, jumping 10 stories to their death, the fire escape collapsing.

Reading the chapter on the actual fire, I had to take many breaks. Using accounts by survivors and newspapers from the time, the author recreates precisely how frightening and gruesome the 12-minute inferno was. It is horrifying when he writes of the "shower of 33 burning bodies" that fell through the window to the stone sidewalk.

What is disgusting is the trial that follows afterwards, where we learn that the owners had locked the doors during work hours so the girls would not steal the blouses (shirtwaists) they made -- indeed they once found 2 blouses in a woman's upswept hairdo (pretty clever, actually.) When asked the value of the goods (about 3 dozen shirtwaists) they had recovered that led them to lock the door, the answer is $25 (!). Survivors' testimonies are picked apart to lay claim they are fraudulent. It is horrible.

They also find that a fire safety company had written to the owners, stating that they would instruct the workers in fire drills that would have given them the three minutes they would have needed to escape with their lives. Three minutes would have saved 146 people who died to save their owners $25.

Perhaps the most horrifying fact is that not a whole lot has changed since then.

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Summary: From the author
Review: Richard Peladeau has leapt to a mistaken conclusion in his review of my book.

The young woman he mentions in his review, Rosie Freedman, did, in fact, die in the fire, and her life story is an important part of "Triangle." She was born in Bialystok, Poland, in the early 1890s. In 1906--as a young teenager--she survived one of the deadliest pogroms in Russian history. Her family then sent her, alone, across Europe to board a steamship for the crossing to New York. After clearing Ellis Island, she went to live with an aunt and uncle who were already in New York. It's likely she had never met them.

At age 14, Rosie managed to earn enough in the garment factories to pay her room and board, cover her expenses, and send money home to support the family she left behind.

Rosie Freedman died in the Triangle fire, on March 25, 1911.

About 350 workers survived that fire. One was a teenager named Rose Rosenfeld. Years later, she married a man named Freedman, and Rose Rosenfeld became Rose Freedman. Mr. Peladeau is correct that Rose Rosenfeld-Freedman lived to the age of 107, and was the longest-lived survivor of the fire.

This is all explained in the end notes of "Triangle." Mr. Peladeau is wrong. These are two entirely different people. This is not a major mistake--in fact, as other reviewers have noted, "Triangle" contains more information about the lives of the Triangle factory workers than any previous book on this subject.

--David Von Drehle

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Summary: "Triangle: Busting Tired Old Myths" by RexCurry.net
Review: The book "Triangle: The Fire That Changed America" by David Von Drehle busts a lot of myths. The book explains that Triangle was not a sweatshop. The fire was not arson by the owners.

Von Drehle has also drawn comparisons to the World Trade Towers on 9-11-2001, including people leaping to their deaths. And what about the much vaunted government regulations imposed after shirtwaist? The Trade Towers collapsed completely, whereas the Shirtwaist building still stands in NYC today. Government fire departments didn't have ladders to reach the Shirtwaist fire, and they didn't have ladders to reach the Trade Tower fire.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company owners suffered greatly, but the government fire department didn't. It is fortunate that the Shirtwaist company was not operated by the government, or the loss of life would have been even greater.

All of the fire safety for buildings like the Trade Towers comes from capitalism and its technology, not from government. Government angers foreigners into flying private planes into private buildings, and government security fails to prevent it from happening.

Von Drehle says that the Shirtwaist fire might have been extinguished but for a problem with a water hose for fires that did not function. It was probably from a government water system that failed.

The Triangle Shirtwaist fire points out the absurd myth of safety from government regulations, including those that were imposed after the fire, and it shows that safety comes from capitalism and its technology.

The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire of 1911 is often misused as a example of the need for child labor laws and safety codes. It is actually a warning to employers and employees to beware of the misdeeds and negligence of other employees. It is also shows the need for private fire departments instead of government-run fire departments.

The workers were 17, 18, and 19 years old or older. So workers were not children, would not be controlled by present child labor laws and thus the incident provides no support for child labor laws.

Though there are persistent myths that doors were locked and fire escapes were faulty, the owner of the building and the proprietors of the Triangle Co. were exonerated by a judge, and an insurance company gave the men $64,925 for property damage.

In comparison, the government-operated fire department was slow to arrive, it's ladders could not reach beyond the 6th floor, to the fire that was raging on the 9th floor. The building was 12 floors high, and NYC at that time had buildings 50 stories high.

There was one door locked, though there were multiple exits that were used by many to escape, including stairs, a fire escape and two elevators that were used heroically by the operators.

The fire started on the 8th floor, and everyone on that floor escaped. Most people on the 10th floor escaped. The 9th floor suffered the greatest loss of life where 100 of 250 people still escaped. There were about 500 people in the building, 350 escaped and about 150 died. The fire did not burn downward and the building is still standing to this day.

What is telling about the persistent myths is how they lay blame upon the workers. One popular claim is that remote doors were locked because workers would use them for stealing or use them for unauthorized breaks for smoking cigarettes (thereby goldbricking and also breaking factory rules against smoking). Not only does this persistent myth lay blame upon the workers for creating the reason for the alleged locking of the doors, it also suggests the source of the fire: unauthorized and negligent smoking by employees.

The journalist Rex Curry writes that the popular use of the Shirtwaist story is misplaced, and that the fire is a warning to employers and employees to beware of the misdeeds and negligence of other employees. The Shirtwaist fire shows the need for private fire departments instead of government-run fire departments.

In a market system with private fire departments, there is a more direct incentive for the users of the fire prevention service to make sure that the department is properly equipped to address their particular building's needs, or for customers to provide for their own safety and fire equipment.

And, of course, thanks to capitalism, and the incompetence of government, there is a strong incentive to create ways of avoiding dependence on government fire departments. Sprinkler systems, cheap and widely distributed smoke detectors, and appliances that do not rely on actual flames to operate as they did in the past (stoves, cooking w/ microwaves), materials that are flame retardant, etc.

Most references to the fire lack detail. Most references to the fire are simply vague anecdotal references in left-wing writings that use the fire as a call for more government regulation. Von Drehle's book is full of detail.

Another interesting bit from Drehle: Fiorello La Guardia was a socialist before he became a republican.

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Summary: The fire that changed America
Review: 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.

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Summary: Triangle: The Fire That Changed America
Review: The tragic conflagration at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in March 1911 resulted in the deaths of 123 women (most of them young immigrants), caused widespread public outrage, and set in motion a wave of reform. Drehle's vivid retelling of this horrifying event begins with the strike that immediately preceded it and then examines the terrible fire, the unsuccessful prosecution of the factory owners, and the fight to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Drehle, a reporter for the Washington Post and author of such investigative books as Lowest of the Dead: Inside Death Row, utilizes the vast amount of documentation surrounding the tragedy and some newly discovered court transcripts to re-create the fire and its legislative aftermath, plus immigrant life and labor conditions at the time. The story of this disaster can never be told too often and has rarely been told this well. Recommended for academic and public libraries of all sizes, even those who already own Leon Stein's classic The Triangle Fire.

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Summary: A Lasting Monument to the Victims of this Sickening Tragedy
Review: The Triangle Shirtwaist Company burned for only a matter of minutes, but the embers of the fire that took hundreds of lives still smolder today. Around 4:30PM on March 25, 1911, the top three floors of a ten-story building at the corner of Washington and Greene Streets in New York City began to burn. Close to 500 women, mostly teenagers and young adults, occupied those floors. They were nearly all Jewish immigrants working nine and a half hours, Monday through Saturday, on piece goods for around $15 a week in wages. In fifteen minutes, 146 of the workers would be dead.

Seventy-nine years later to the day, Miami Herald reporter David Von Drehle was covering the story of another fire in New York City. A deranged man had firebombed a nightclub in the Bronx, killing 87 people. The coincidence of the date of the fires prompted some to be reminded of the Triangle fire. One year later Von Drehle would move to New York, living one block from the location of the factory. His curiosity now piqued, he began to learn details about the fire that altered the history of the labor movement in America. TRIANGLE: The Fire That Changed America is the product of that research. It is a powerful work of history made even more riveting by an author who writes of the event with a style that brings vibrant life to an event nearly a century past.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, a fierce battle was waged between workers and owners. Von Drehle begins his account of the fire with a portrayal of the squalid working conditions of trade's people in New York. Union organizers and workers fought a bitter struggle with owners in many industries. The Women's Trade Union League was a major participant in the battle. Despite their efforts, the owners held the upper hand. Thousands of immigrants, desperate for work at any wage, created a substantial pool of workers that undercut union efforts to organize. Workers had little bargaining power in March of 1911.

On the day of the fire, the factory workers were helpless to save themselves. Exit doors had been locked to prevent the girls from sneaking out on the fire escape to take a cigarette break. Other doors had been locked to prevent employees from leaving work with a purloined garment. Fire hoses that might have put out the fire in its nascent stage were rotten at the folds. Panic-stricken women jumped to their deaths from the ninth floor of the building, forcing arriving fire wagons to maneuver around the corpses. The victims, many of whom could not even be identified, were buried in a single grave. Nearly 100,000 New Yorkers attended the funeral.

What occurred after the fire serves to make the Triangle fire such a compelling historical event. One event --- the criminal trial of the factory owners --- served only to compound the Triangle tragedy. The other event --- public and government response to the fire --- meant that those who perished in the fire did not die in vain. The discussion of those events in TRIANGLE completes the historical saga in a riveting fashion.

Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, the owners of the Triangle factory, were indicted for multiple counts of manslaughter. While the trial lacked the modern elements of media mayhem, the public interest in the proceedings made it the era's equivalent of the O.J. Simpson trial. Harris and Blanck retained Max Steuer as their attorney. While an excellent biography of Steuer remains to be written, Von Drehle gives the reader substantial information about the legendary New York trial attorney. Steuer is not as well known as another famous attorney of the era, Clarence Darrow, for one significant reason. Unlike Darrow, Steuer represented only those clients able to pay his significant fees. His fee for the Triangle fire was said to be $10,000 per man. Harris and Blanck got their money's worth. Through his strategy and tactics, both defendants were found not guilty. Just as in the Simpson case, the community was outraged. Although free men, Harris and Blanck had to be smuggled out of the courthouse in order to avoid facing the angry throng of spectators waiting outside.

While the verdict of acquittal stung the city of New York, the 146 victims of the Triangle fire did not die in vain. Out of the tragedy came fire-prevention legislation, factory inspection laws, workers' compensation acts, and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. David Von Drehle has captured the full meaning of the tragic events of March 25, 1911, and by his effort has created a lasting monument to those who perished on this sad day.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman from Bookreporter.com

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Summary: Well-researched and well-told
Review: This account of the March 25, 1911, fire in New York City tells the story well, and it is neat to realize the amount of research that the author ably did. Even to going to the very place in the building (which still stands as a part of the NYU campus!) where the fire occurred. The legal aftermath is also well-told, the author having found the transcript of the trial and working from it tells of the trial in which the business owners were accused of crime. But I do have one gripe about the book--its source notes, listed by chapter, fail to give the page where the clause introducing the source notes appears in the book! This failure is really unconscionable, since to find if there is a source note for something one needs to go over all the notes for the chapter involved--and the chapters are not identified by page numbers either, so one needs to determine what chapter one is in and then go down the list of source notes to see if any are what one is looking for. This is a foolish error which could have been cured so easily. If the book is reprinted I hope that the source notes will be paginated. But except for this, the book is good reading.

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Summary: A great and important story, excellently told
Review: This book is a stunningly beautiful journalistic tour de force. It's just the sort of slice-of-history book I love -- one that takes a little-noticed event and spins a page-turner of a narrative tale out of it. I loved "Close to Shore" (about a series of turn-of-the-century shark attacks on the Jersey Shore) for that reason. Ditto "In the Heart of the Sea" (about the whaleboat sinking that inspired "Moby Dick"). When I saw this book, my first thought was, how do you do a whole book out of a five-minute inferno? The book itself answers that question in spades. The political and historical analysis of the impact of the fire is bulletproof. The narrative drive is compelling as any novel, especially in the chapter about the fire itself. The aftermath stuff is just as good, especially the dramatic courtroom battle, which still has me pondering (and troubled) over whether the owners should or should not have been convicted; I don't want to give away the ending, so you'll see why when you read it. The research is beyond impressive: In an awesome feat of historical detective work (explained in detailed sourcing notes), the author unearthed the long-lost transcript of the trial. He also compiled the only full and accurate (as best as one can tell) listing of the victims as an appendix - an appropriately tender tribute to their heretofore under-appreciated legacy.