Triangle: the Fire that
Changed America by David Von Drehle, tells the tragic story of the 146 workers that died in the
Triangle shirtwaist factory fire on March 25th, 1911 and what led up to
this event. David Von Drehle shows how society’s eyes were opened to the terrible
conditions, and how they saw the need for reform. Drehle is a very qualified writer, who worked diligently to
make this piece of history come to life for the reader. He accurately and vividly
portrays the life of poor immigrants in the 1900s and the hardships that they
had to deal with. The writing was very high quality and took complex turns that greatly
impacted the effect that this tragedy had on the reader.
David Von Drehle is a
highly qualified writer, with a significantly educated background. According to the Time Staff Biography, Von Drehle received a B.A. from the University of
Denver and a Master of Letters degree from Oxford. The Time describes Von Drehle as “an editor-at-large at TIME since 2007
that covers national stories and politics (Staff Bio).” Previously, Von Drehle worked as the senior
writer for the Washington Post, having served as the paper’s assistant managing editor, national political writer, magazine staff writer and
New York bureau chief.
In preparing to write Triangle: the Fire that Changed America, David Von Drehle went to great pains to be as factually
correct as possible. It was quite difficult to gather a lot of the information
because many for the historical documents were lost. In an interview, Von Drehle says he was
surprised at “how little of the primary material about this fire had
been preserved…when I got to doing the research, I found document after
document -- the coroner's investigation, the fire marshal's
investigation -- had been lost (Lamb).” This must have been a great set back in his
research, but he impressively kept searching by going to archives and
looking for the appropriate documents. In his search, Von Drehle managed to
recover several original documents, including old records of Max Steuer [a well-known
attorney of the time], such as two volumes of a transcript,
that is now archived in Oxford College.
What I appreciated the most about Von
Drehle’s efforts was that he took the time to create the first ever
complete list of everyone known to have died in the fire. Von Drehle writes that he
“scour[ed] over all the sources and tripped over stray names deep in this
newspaper or that one—and after eliminating all
the names that seemed wrong or duplicative—[he]
was left…with 140 (Von Drehle 271).” The pages and pages of names in the end of the book include
details about the workers – where they came from, how they lived, how they worked, and how they died. It is a sobering reminder
for the reader that this event affected the lives of hundreds and should not be
forgotten.
I believe that Von Drehle’s thesis begins when he writes:
“The Triangle fire of March 25, 1911, was for ninety years the deadliest workplace disaster in New
York history—and the most important (Von
Drehle 3).” Von Drehle emphasizes how important this event is in history, and even draws some
parallels to 9/11. Von Drehle continues his thesis by writing: “It [the Triangle fire] was
different because it was more than just a horrific half hour; it was a crucial moment
in a potent chain of events—a chain that ultimately
forced fundamental reforms from the political machinery of New York, and, after New York, the whole nation (Von
Drehle 3).” The purpose of this book is to demonstrate how the Triangle catastrophe
profoundly affected Tammany Hall, the New York City and State government, the federal government, the labor union movement, the socialists and the democrats.
Von Drehle’s agenda in getting people to read this book is to
expose the changes that needed to be made and get the audience to draw
comparisons to their lives today. He wants to “open up the horror of the Triangle fire, to gaze intently and
unflinchingly at it, and to settle on the facts and their meaning (Von Drehle 5).” He wants the reader to
meditate on this moment in history and then understand what it means for us, in today’s society.
This book was seemingly written with the best of intentions
and I did not see any bias in Von Drehle’s writing. His compassion for the
victims, his admiration for the reformers, and sincere care and passion on the subject is
obvious in every word he writes. When analyzing the events, Von Drehle tries to see every angle of what happened. He does not put his own
assumptions into the events, but tries to make sense and decode the confusion of
documents that were available to him. Von Drehle references other historians in matters
that he is not educated or well versed in. For example when writing on the subject of tenements
and factory buildings he notes that “some writers have suggested that the most
important advantage of the loft factories, compared to the tenement sweatshops, was the high ceilings (Von
Drehle 47).” Here he is showing that this is some other writer’s point view on the
subject, so that he is not just throwing around his own opinion on the matter.
The book is organized mostly in chronological order. Von Drehle starts the book
with a prologue that foreshadows what will be discussed throughout. The next couple of chapters
give the reader detailed background information on the social mentality, economic stability, and government involvement
in society during the late 80’s and early 90’s. Then there are two chapters
dedicated entirely to the heart-wrenching minutes that the fire took place. And the last chapters of
the book deal the after effects such as how the public reacted, how the trials proceeded, and what reforms were made
to prevent anything like this from happening again ever again.
Von Drehle’s uses of sources were extensive to say the least. The last 75 pages were
specifically to expand on where he got his information and where it was
available. There was a section entitled “Notes” where Von Drehle went through, chapter by chapter, and took excerpts of his
quotes and put them side by side the sources that he took the information from. He then wrote a chapter
entitled “Notes on Sources.” In the chapter he describes the process of how he
researched and which sources he use primarily, such as the “transcribed
testimony from the trial of People of the
State of New York v. Isaac Harris and Max Blanck (Von Drehle 317).” And finally, Von Drehle has a chapter
titled: “Selected Bibliography”, that goes on for several pages expounding on
different newspapers, periodicals, books, and unpublished dissertations that he used in this book.
All in all, this book was very well written. It kept my attention and was
told like a story, and not like a dull historical text book. Von Drehle developed
characters so well that you grew attached to them, and really felt like you
connected with them. Some of the beginning was hard to get through because, although it was important, there were a lot of
technical and political terms that the average reader would have a hard time
understanding. The actual description of the fire was gripping and heart-breaking. The portrayals of the
events and of the worker’s frantic reactions chill your bones and make you sad
and angry all at once. Von Drehle really did a fantastic job at riling up the
reader’s emotions. His writing plants a seed in your mind, that eats at you until you
cannot sit still and must tell someone about how this tragic fire. He makes you want to ensure
that something like this will never happen again.
In Conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed Triangle:
the Fire that Changed America written by David Von Drehle. Von Drehle re-examines the
Triangle shirtwaist factory, and fully sheds light on the social conditions
that led to it, as well as workplace and political changes that occurred because of it. This book portrayed the
late 80’s and early 90’s in a new light, showing the how the poor immigrant workers struggled
to live, and the wealthy dominated the economy. This book also demonstrated the rampant political
corruption that took place, and how union’s struggled to form to protect the rights of
the people. The audience could clearly see Von Drehle’s credibility, and unbiased
attitude when reading this book. I found this to be an accurate and riveting portrayal of the
Triangle shirtwaist factory fire, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who
wishes to learn more on the subject.
Works Cited
Foner, Eric. "The Progressive Era." Give Me Liberty!: An American History. New York: W.W. Norton,
2006. N. pag.
Print.
Lamb, Brian. "Triangle: The Fire That Changed America." Booknotes. C-SPAN, 05 Oct.
2003. Web. 04 Mar.
2013. <http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/177888-1/David%20Von%20Drehle.aspx>.
"Staff Bios |
David Von Drehle."
TIME Media Kit.
Time, 25 Aug. 2013.
Web. 04 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.timemediakit.com/us/media/bios/vondrehle.html>.
Von Drehle, David. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2003. Print.
