Triangle: the Fire that Changed America by David Von Drehle
This is the story of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, in which 146 factory workers, most of them young immigrant women, died within 15 minutes, many of them trapped behind a locked exit door on the 9th floor. The author demonstrates how safety measures already in place in other factories could have saved most lives and details the factors - the general strike of 1909, the politics of Tammany Hall, the enormous wave of young immigrants to New York city, the beginnings of the feminist movement and socialist politics - that influenced both the circumstances of the fire and the public reaction to it.
Although I found the wealth of detail a little overwhelming and pedantic at times, this is a fascinating and heart-rending account, well-written, and extremely well-researched. Recommended.

Meeting Summary for Feb. 16/07
We met at Teresa's and discussed the following non-fiction:
Barb - Point to Point Navigation by Gore Vidal
Frances - A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous
Ada - Sky Burial: an Epic Love Story of Quebec by Xinran Xue
Kerry - Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
Linda - Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Lorraine - Prison of Tehran by Marin Nemat
- Wikinomics by Don Tapscott
Teresa - The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thaddeus Carhart
- Leave me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan
Rhian - The Universe in a Single Atom
Kathryn - The Triangle Fire by Dave Von Drehle

Apparently you can label your post which enables you to find it later. So I'll do a summary of each session and label it (surprise!) Summary with the date. We could also each label our reviews with a genre label, eg. non-fiction, prize winners, mystery, etc.

New Blogger

I have now switched over to the New Blogger which requires a Google account. It seems I've lost a few contributors in the process, however. I think that I will have to send out invitations again. Kathryn, Frances, and Lorraine seem to still be on the list.