TRIANGLE The Fire that Changed America

The 1911 fire was terrible, killing 146 people, but there's much more to the story. The author covers, and Barrett Whitener delivers, a history of the Garment Workers' Union, the cutthroat clothing industry, the waves of immigrants who assured the factory owners a constant supply of cheap labor, and the politicians who either supported or ignored the women who pleaded with them for shorter hours and better conditions. With gravity and sympathy, Whitener brings back to life the victims and activists, as well as the tenements and factory conditions that made the tragedy inevitable. Despite the length and reportorial nature of the text, a steady pace and faultless diction carry the listener to the end. J.B.G.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 04]