Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

Book Description

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 at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders weren't tall enough. People on the street watched in horror as desperate workers jumped to their deaths. 146 people died — 123 of them women. It was the worst disaster in the city's history. Not only a chronicle of the fire, but also a vibrant portrait of an entire age, this book follows the waves of Jewish and Italian immigration that inundated New York in the early century, filling its slums and supplying its garment factories with cheap labor. It portrays the work conditions that led to a massive waist-workers' strike in which an unlikely coalition of socialists, socialites, and suffragettes took on bosses, police, and magistrates. Von Drehle puts a human face on those who died in the fire, and shows how popular revulsion at the Triangle catastrophe led to an unprecedented alliance between idealistic labor reformers and the supremely pragmatic politicians of the Tammany machine.

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding Read about 20th Century Fire.......2007-08-30

This is a great book about the economics and history of twentieth century America and how the sweatshops were a big part of immigrant life in New York. The Triangle Factory disaster still has a message for those modern day factory shops in other parts of the world who continue to ignore safety laws and concerns. as a similar tragedy could easily happen again. This book uncovers those safety issues, that today should be standard in all factories across the globe. Of the 250 workers in the building, only a little more than 100 survived the fire. The death toll marked 140 people dead (123 of them women, of which about a hundred jumped or fell to their death). It is shocking to know that the owners were found not guilty, and even collected $60,000 in insurance payments. I pray that this tragedy will continue to arouse public action and continued lobbying for workplace safety. This is an excellent book!

The Disaster and the Era.......2007-07-23

The New York Triangle fire of 3-25-1911 was the deadliest workplace disaster until 9-11-2001. About 100 workers died every day in the nation's workplaces then (p.3). Workplace safety was still a goal. Chapter 1 tells about that era. Tammany Hall was founded to support the Revolution against British rule, and the large landholders (p.21). Their function was to help people, and they collected from governmental operations (p.23). By the late 19th century they worked for the moneyed interests (p.24). William R. Hearst pushed municipal ownership (p.31). The immigrants made New York the ready-made clothes manufacturing capital. New loft buildings were an improvement over sweatshops and allowed improved productivity.

Changes began with the November 1909 election. All Tammany candidates lost to progressive candidates. The garment workers all went out on strike November 23, 1909 and soon won a pay raise, a 52-hour week, and a closed union shop from some manufacturers. Most factory owners formed an association to resist the workers. The help of rich society women was invaluable (their interest was in woman suffrage). Conflicts among the groups appeared (p.79). The workers wanted a union shop (p.81). The settlement saw higher wages and shorter hours, union membership was no longer prohibited (p.86). Chapter 4 has the history of that era, and tells why immigrants came to the golden land of America. The clothing trade was better than laundry or being a sales clerk (pp.113-114).

Chapter 5 tells about the fire. Scraps of cotton and tissue paper were very flammable (p.119). The water pails could not extinguish the fire. The water tank on the roof had no water (p.121). The scrap under the cutter's tables spread the fire rapidly (p.138). Fire-safe factories had existed for decades (p.160). The moneyed classes of New York did not choose sprinkler systems, fire-walls, fire doors, enclosed fire stairways as in other cities. Insurance companies made money selling policies, the higher the risk the more they made (p.161)! The Triangle Waist Company had repeated fires. A fire allowed them to collect on unsold inventory (p.162). Fashion changes resulted in arson. There were other fires at shirtwaist factories in 1911 (p.163). Why did some factories carry excess insurance? The fire was under control in just over 30 minutes (p.166).

In the aftermath everyone pointed the blame at someone else (pp.184-185). New laws for better fire escapes, enclosed fireproof stairways, automatic sprinklers, and fire drills were suggested. Pages 189-191 explain how Tammany Hall worked; also pages 198-199. The strength of the Socialist Party changed Tammany's policies (p.213). A series of new laws in 1913 remade NY labor law (p.215). Page 216 explains the legislator's trick of stalling a bill. In 1913 Tammany Hall chose a workingman-friendly platform and won its greatest statewide victory (pp.217-218). Locking factory doors during working hours was a misdemeanor. If this resulted in death it was manslaughter (p.220). Blanck and Harris were arrested and tried. Max Steuer was the greatest lawyer in New York. Did Judge Crain fix the trial (p.235)? Lawyer Steuer asked Kate Alterman to repeat her story so it seemed rehearsed and deceitful (p.249). Yet it was all true (p.250)! Many witnesses told of the movement of people during that day which implies unlocked doors (p.251). The judge's instructions were overwhelmingly favorable to the defense (p.255). There was conflict, but the jury heeded the judge's instructions. There was a secret in Judge Crain's life (p.257). His bias was with the defendants (p.258). The `Epilogue' tells what happened afterwards. The owners collected a huge amount over their actual losses (p.264)! Blanck was arrested and fined in 1913 for locked doors (p.265).

Heartrending, but change is overstated.......2007-02-12

In America it is assumed that market forces and the moral character of business owners will operate to protect workers from egregious safety issues. Of course, that defies historical fact. It has only been via government regulation that workers have ever achieved even a modicum of safety, and then only if government regulators do not turn a blind eye towards obvious problems. In the New York City of 1910 it was well known that factory lofts at the top of multi-story buildings, at a minimum, needed sprinkler systems, firewalls, access to stairways, functional fire escapes, smoking bans, unlocked doors, and periodic fire drills.

Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, the owners of the Triangle Waist Company and makers of women's shirtwaists, ignored every one of those measures, which resulted in the horrific death of 146 mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant women on Mar 25, 1911 when a discarded cigarette started a fire in cloth scraps on the eighth floor of their factory. The fire consumed that story and the two above it, consisting of 27,000 sq feet, in about 15 mins. The warning to the sewing machine operators on the ninth floor was delayed and then a locked stairway door was encountered. Over fifty leapt to their death; others fell down a shaft when the overloaded fire escape tore loose, and the remaining died on the floor, blocked from escape. Miraculously, about 350 escaped, some via the roof. Spectators watched in horror as the ladders of the NYFD fell short by thirty feet of rescuing those standing on the ledges.

The author makes the claim that this fire changed America, initiating a period of reform and ushering in urban liberalism, which is even today the basis of the Democratic Party. Actually, it was already an era of change and turmoil. The Progressive era of reform had started during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency, due in large part to labor strife that had been occurring over several decades. The author begins the book by following Clara Lemlich, the firebrand leader of recently formed Local 25 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), in her very public efforts in trying to organize a strike among all shirtwaist workers and in being stalked by thugs hired to harm her sufficiently to stop her organizing. As a testimony to her resiliency, she overcame the beating to lead 20,000 workers out on strike in Nov, 1909.

Tammany Hall, the longstanding Democratic political machine in New York, was interdependent with the working class - especially in NYC; jobs and other benefits were exchanged for votes. But Tammany was not reformist; it generally supported businessmen and the status quo. The police department was a prime enforcer of their program including the harassment, if not brutal put down, of labor agitators. Tammany-beholden judges were more than willing to send picketers to the city workhouse for offences no greater than holding a sign. But many of NYC's newest immigrants, who were mostly Jewish, had been radicalized by being subjected to and escaping pogroms in Russia. Furthermore, upper-middle-class society matrons were aghast at the living and working conditions for these workers, and lent considerable support to those situations. Charles Murphy, the low-profile leader of Tammany, knew that this segment of the voting public would move in the direction of socialism if Tammany did not support reform.

In what is definitely its strongest part, the author devotes about one-third of the book to recapitulating what happened inside the factory as well as the public official response once the fire started. Though the fire consumed the factory in about 15 mins, the action the author describes among both the survivors and the doomed was fast and furious. Primarily from the testimony at the ensuing trial of the owners and from interviews of survivors by Leon Stein years later, he is able to personalize what happened in the factory on that fateful day. In addition, the author supplies in an appendix the most up-to-date listing of those who died in the fire. Six remain unidentified.

The owners of the factory retained prestigious lawyer Max Steuer to represent them against charges of manslaughter, based on illegally locking a stairway door. Steuer simply overmatched both the prosecutor and the immigrant women witnesses, easily finding holes in their stories and planting doubts. In addition, the author contends that the judge Thomas Crain conducted the trail in a highly prejudicial manner by disallowing much of the grim facts to be presented and instructing the jury that conviction was permitted only if the evidence could show that the owners specifically knew that the door in question was locked on that day at the time of the fire. The fact that there was evidence that the door was invariably locked at that time of day and that the bolted lock was found in the charred remains apparently carried no weight. Both Steuer and Crain had for many years supported Tammany constituents as the owners of Triangle Waist Company were.

Though the owners were acquitted, Tammany did not ignore the public clamor for some sort of reform. Tammany's chief representatives in the New York legislature, Robert F. Wagner in the Senate and Alfred E. Smith in the Assembly, were instrumental in forming the Factory Investigating Commission only three months after the Triangle fire, which embarked on passing sweeping safety legislation. That commission also included college-educated Frances Perkins, FDR's future Secretary of Labor and key player in the New Deal along with Robert Wagner.

Although reform measures were inspired by the Triangle fire, the author admits that the fire did recede from public memory fairly quickly. The author's claim that the strike "changed America" is certainly overstated. In 1912, not more than a year later, Lawrence, Mass was the scene of a huge textile workers strike led by the IWW in which local policemen resorted to clubbing children as striking parents attempted to put them on trains to Philadelphia. Though not the same deadly scenario as the Triangle fire, the overreaction of public officials towards striking workers was perhaps more egregious. A year after that, the striking silk workers in Paterson, NJ were subjected to massive arrests, which killed the strike. The huge reaction against labor unions after WWI, which decimated membership, undoubtedly was a major factor in the Great Depression as workers simply lacked the buying power to sustain the economy.

The author does not define "urban liberalism." It is clear that liberalism in all of its reformist variants has been severely rolled back over the last thirty years in the US. Median wages have been virtually flat throughout that time. Less than nine percent of US private sector workers are now represented by unions. More realistic statements can be made concerning the standing of workers and unions in the US. First, worker reforms are sporadic in nature, are often subject to rollback at some time, and are often unenforced. Second, the business class ultimately prevails in confrontations with workers; controlling information flow through media ownership is a huge advantage. Even if employment in the 21st century does not bring with it the same hazards as 100 years before, the world of work can still be highly contentious and difficult for employees.

The book is heartrending. It gives a flavor of the times: the immigration wave, the difficult living and working conditions, the forces arrayed against change, etc. But it is a snapshot. As those issues have unfolded over time, the story is often far more complex than the author intimates, and is not on a progressive climb.

a good story that was forgotten about.......2007-02-10

This is a very good story that was basicaly forgotten about (before the book). It tells the details of a horrific fire that killed scores of immigrant factory workers (mostly women). It also, touches upon the early suffrogett women's movement along with other political issues that went on in the early 20th century. It brings the reader to a time and a fire that seems to be forgotten

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America.......2006-11-11

The star rating that I have assigned the book is based on your customer service. I have not had an opportunity to read the book as yet. I purchased the book based on an interview that I heard on a C-Span Book TV program.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Code Red)

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Great historical read!

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Code Red)
Jacqueline Dembar Greene
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Customer Reviews:

Great historical read!.......2007-05-13

As a Professor of Fire Science I am constantly seeking out books having to do with great historical fires in American. These books are to be used as course research papers by my students and typically are not available via the library network. I trust many of my students are buying their copies from Amazon.com a name that can be trusted.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Landmark Events in American History)

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Graphic Library: Disasters in History)

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THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE

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Jessica Gunderson
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Customer Reviews:

THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE.......2006-10-04

Graphic novels have become popular with older children and adults. When publishers target younger readers with graphic non-fiction, the meshing of fact with image results in a format that appeals to today's visually oriented young people. Although invented dialogue and conversation boxes are characteristic of this genre ("AAAAAGH!" "NO!" "RRRIIIPP!"), the book also contains direct quotations clearly identified in the text by yellow backgrounds.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire presents the story of the tragic March 25, 1911 event through the lens of the labor activism that engulfed New York's garment industry at the time. Largely missing from this brief but accurate account is the specific Jewish connection to the labor strife. The actions of Clara Lemlich are appropriately depicted at the union rally which preceded the 1909 garment workers strike, but the author ignores the specifically Jewish nature of the labor activism and the oath taken by the strikers. Although this book is not written from a Jewish perspective, it can serve as a dramatic initial introduction to the event, particularly for reluctant readers. Ages 9-12. Reviewed by Norman H. Finkelstein

Triangle Factory Fire, The (Spotlight on American History)

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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: Flames of Labor Reform (American Disasters)

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Fire at the Triangle Factory (Carolrhoda on My Own Book.)

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The infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of 1911
I teach about immigration
Wrong age group listed for this great intro to biography
Fire at the Triangle Factory

Fire at the Triangle Factory (Carolrhoda on My Own Book.)
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Customer Reviews:

The infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of 1911.......2002-01-29

I was interested to spot this children's book dealing with the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of March 25, 1911, in which 146 workers were killed. Public outrage over the fire, and the deaths of so many young women, some as young as 14, resulted in monumental changes in fire codes. "Fire at the Triangle Factory" tells the story of 14-year-olds Minnie and Tessa, two friends who help each other when the factory goes up in flames.

You will notice that the Author's Note and Afterword, written by author Holly Littlefield, are probably about as long as the entire text of the actual story. The story is written at an elementary school level, but clearly the historical events are beyond the scope of such readers, therefore necessitating the detailed background. The story, illustrated by Mary O'Keefe Young, touches on the horrible working conditions, but does not really communicate the inhumanity of the sweatshops. The two young girls are the daughters of immigrants: Minnie's family is Jewish and Tessa's is Italian, and Minnie frets that her father would not accept her having a non-Jewish friend. But Minnie knows that things are different in America, which is always a worthwhile attitude to impart to children. The fire and its aftermath take up half the story and the manner in which the two young girls escape the fire certainly rings true; indeed, Littlefield based her story on the account of actual survivors.

I think this story would have worked better for an older age group, with the story fleshed out to something more like a novella in length. The immigrant life style could be explored in much more detail to greater effect and the same would be true for both the working conditions at the factory and the fatal fire. Junior high girls would be able to relate to this story and appreciate its historical, social and personal significance much more than younger students who would have trouble fully appreciating Littlefield's ambitious subject matter.

I teach about immigration.......2002-01-27

I am a sixth grade social studies teacher. I teach about immigrants and their assimilation into the American way of life. This book is very much below the reading level of average sixth graders. However, due to the brevity of the story and its valuable historical significance, I was able to read it orally to my classes as an introduction and enhancement to my immigration unit. It was also a valuable story upon which to refer to aid my students' understanding throughout the unit of study. One thing which I think "tickled" the interest of my sixth graders in particular, was that the story focused on two youths very close to their age. I think it is a "must have" for those who want to add a little something to their immigration lesson plans and to add realism.

Wrong age group listed for this great intro to biography.......2001-03-27

My 7 year old loved this book, and has gone on to enjoy many others from Carolrhoda. Well written, true stories featuring interesting real people (many of them female). However, they are rated grades 4-6, which I think is way off- a strong first grade reader, most second grader, and any average third grader should fly through these books. Strongly recommended!

Fire at the Triangle Factory.......2000-12-19

I found this book to be a good book for early readers. The typeface used was large and easy to read but for older reader it was a little too basic.

I also found that older readers would benefit from a more detailed account which this book does not cover.

Customer Reviews:

Winner of the NYPL "Best Books for the Teen Age" Award.......2002-01-14

This is an excellent history of the disastrous 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory. Included in the account is carefully researched background information on labor and workplace regulations in the U.S. during the era of the fire. The author also adds a look at contemporary labor problems, and includes a cautionary chapter about why similar tragedies have occurred in recent years. A fine book, written for teens but interesting for adults as well.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Sweatshop Reform in American History (In American History)

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