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Triangle

the Fire That Changed America
Apr 17, 2004GingerKaren rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
David Von Drehle has written a moving account of a fire that started a small revolution in the labor and political arenas in the early part of the last century. Fire safety for workers was a rallying cry even as the flames were building at the Triangle Waist Company on March 25, 1911. These flames helped to create fire doors that opened out onto safe, wide stairwells, and made laws governing manufacturers from locking workers in. Today we seem to have forgotten all about this tragedy that took 140+ lives. In fact, there is no record of the names of the people that died in the fire or from injuries afterwards! But it is the human stories that capture the reader''s attention. For instance, a song called Ev''ry Little Movement reverberates through this book. Taken from a hit Broadway show, then picked up by the general public, it became very popular in the Triangle Waist Company. After work you could hear the strains of it sung by several workers as they got ready to go home. March 25, 1911 was no different, until the fire made it a terrible reminder to the survivors of the worst factory fire of the 20th century.