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Triangle  By  cover art

Triangle

By: David Von Drehle
Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
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Publisher's summary

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 who arrived at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders simply weren't tall enough. People on the street watched in horror as desperate workers jumped to their deaths. The final toll was 146 people - 123 of them women. It was the worst disaster in New York City history.

This harrowing yet compulsively readable book is both a chronicle of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and a vibrant portrait of an entire age. It follows the waves of Jewish and Italian immigration that inundated New York in the early years of the century, filling its slums and supplying its garment factories with cheap, mostly female labor. It portrays the Dickensian 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 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.

David Von Drehle orchestrates these events into a drama rich in suspense and filled with memorable characters: the tight-fisted Shirtwaist kings Max Blanck and Isaac Harris; Charles F. Murphy, the shrewd kingmaker of Tammany Hall; blue-blooded activists like Anne Morgan, daughter of J.P. Morgan; reformers Frances W. Perkins and Al Smith. Most powerfully, he puts a human face on the men and women who died on March 25th. Triangle is a vibrant and immensely moving account of the hardships of New York City life in the early part of the 20th century, and how this event transformed politics and gave rise to urban liberalism.

©2004 David von Drehle (P)2011 Random House
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about Triangle

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting but Loong

The "Triangle" book furnishes every possible detail regarding the sad fire, the victims, and. The aftermath. As a historic reference work it is great, but as an audio book it's so filled with facts, figures, columns of names that it is difficult to keep track. An audio version would do well to be about half the length. Even better would be to purchase the book version so that the reader can easily flip back and forth to verify names and timeline. On the plus side, the narration is excellent; crisp, clear and the perfect tempo.

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2 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Not what's in the book!

I have the book in front of me and it is vastly different in every area! What a waste of money!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

SHOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED "THE UNIONS OF NEW YORK"

THE NARRATOR SPEAKS SO SLOW HE CAN PUT YOU TO SLEEP. A LONG, LONG BOOK.
THIS IS MY FIRST REVIEW AFTER YEARS OF USING AUDIBLE, BUT I JUST HAD TO SAID IT.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book!

I so enjoyed this history, which takes the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory as its core. Although focusing on the factory, its workers and bosses, and the fire, the author also examines all the other historical pieces that contributed and the results afterwards.

I thought the performer was excellent.

Highly recommend!

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

Amazing. Though it's a nonfiction book, it paints a picture with a narrative that feels like fiction to put the reader right there among the strikers and the fire victims. This story should be required for everyone studying women's history.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

If you like this kind of history book its great.

Its nice to hear the whole story on something. Maybe one day we will get to read a book that puts September 11th into a nice little package.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Could have been said it much fewer words

It was too detailed. Of course it was a hard subject to even read about I do think it is good to know about the treatment of women not that long ago. But there were many unnecessary details.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

History of Politics

I was hoping to get a more personal history of the victims, the condition, and the tragedy, of the fire. Instead it was a history lesson on New York politics. If you want history concerning the unions, graft, and unscrupulous civic leaders, this is the book for you. The one chapter that covers the fire was well written and heartbreaking.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great account

The book wasn’t done exactly how I would have but I liked it. Great that the ending mentioned the chicken plant fire in Hamlet, NC.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

Wonderfully told history of a tragic event. I’m a student of this fire and the Wyncoff Hotel fire in Atlanta. Touching & thoroughly explores all issues & personalities. Thank you.

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