Rating: 
Summary: Horrifying Tale Spun Well
Review: Edward T. O'Donnell tells a horrific tale in Ship Ablaze. In a matter of minutes a steamboat full of a German-American church group went from enjoying a ride down the East River on a beautiful day towards picnic grounds to fighting for their lives as an inferno consumed the lives of over a thousand people, mainly children and women, through fire or drowning. The very life preservers themselves became instruments for the deaths of many as it dragged them straight to the bottom of the river. The author does a magnificent job of setting the scene for the tragedy but his best work comes in the description of the disaster itself. It is heartbreaking and breathtaking and impossible to pull away from. This book is a wonderful memorial to a time and event that should not ever be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: One of the deadliest disasters in New York history.
Review: One hears about some very familiar disasters, but I was not familiar with the General Slocum steam boat disaster. Over 1,000 people (mainly women and children) died in this disaster on the East River. O'Donnell does a superb job of detailing New York at the turn of the century and the dangers associated with steamship travel. Then he goes into great detail about the disaster and the aftermath of the sinking of the General Slocum.
I believe O'Donnell does a fair job of detailing who failed in this disaster. The owner, USSIS, and the Captain all were to blame for this dangerous situation. The result was the decimation of a large German immigrant church community.
O'Donnell's short chapters, and his coverage from all angles gives the reader a clear picture of the disaster. One can understand the nature of this tragedy and the effect on New York City.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book with some major omissions
Review: The story itself is well-researched and well-told, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but I do have a few qualms with it. The first of these is the absence of an index, which in my opinion should be absolutely mandatory for any non-fiction book. How is one to find specific references without reading or re-reading an entire chapter or the entire tome? I don't know if this is the fault of the author, publisher, or someone else, but there seems to be a veritable "index-omission" epidemic raging in publishing circles these days, and this seriously limits a book's value for research purposes. Another qualm/question is: why wasn't a complete, name-by-name list of the +/-1,300 dead, missing, and surviors included? Or a spec sheet on the Slocum itself? Such data must be in the author's possession, and it's a shame it wasn't included. It would have really rounded out the book and taken it to the next level. In the final analysis however, although the book isn't perfect, I do recommend it highly at every opportunity as it tells a fascinating and tragic tale.
Rating:
Summary: A Story that Deserves Telling
Review: Much credit is due Edward O'Donnell, author of "Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum," for keeping alive this incredible but mostly forgotten disaster. Eclipsed in the history of New York City only by 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, O'Donnell chronicles the last voyage of the steamboat General Slocum. On June 15, 1904, the General Slocum departed the piers of lower-eastside New York, carrying a group of over 1,300 German-Americans looking forward to the annual Sunday School picnic on the Long Island Sound. But never venturing beyond the East River, and within less than an hour of leaving the pier, over 1,000 passengers, mostly women and children, would burn or drown. O'Donnell captures this unfathomable tragedy with sensitivity and pathos, writing with the precision of an accomplished historian but the pace and drama of a seasoned novelist. His portrait of New York at the turn-of-the-century is vivid and believable, conveying just the right amount of cultural and physical background to the story. In building the case, O'Donnell's indictment of those responsible for this wholly preventable conflagration is razor-sharp, as much John Grisham as it is David McCullough. Adella Liebenow, a six-month old infant on the fateful day, was the Slocum's youngest survivor. At the time "Ship Ablaze" was written in 2002, Adella was 98, and the last survivor of the Slocum's last cruise. With all livings memories of this terrible story about to die, we are fortunate to have Mr. O'Donnell's gut-wrenching but beautifully written tribute to the victims recorded for posterity.
Rating:
Summary: O'Donnell makes little known tragedy a fantastic read
Review: As a student of history and also a firefighter, I had heard of this disaster but knew nothing about it. O'Donnell does an excellent job describing the time period, the community, and the impact of the disaster itself. The hundreds of dead children and the defective life preservers will make the strongest stomach wince, yet O'Donnell write very tastefully and professionally. The book sometimes seems quite graphic, but there really is no light hearted way to tell of this horrible event.
I really could not put this book down. The chapters were the perfect length; long enought to give a great amount of information, yet short enough to keep the story rolling. Oddly enough, I read it exactly 100 years after the burning of the General Slocum. Kudos to Mr. O'Donnell for finally bringing this event into the light. Also check the Slocum website for more info, pictures, etc.
Rating:
Summary: "cautionary tale of greed, carelessness & unspeakable loss"
Review: Ship Ablaze is a very well written and engaging book. Edward T. O'Donnell presents the story of the Steamship General Slocum which caught fire in 1904 while carrying members of a Lutheran church in a German district in Manhattan on their annual outing. The fire resulted in over 1,000 deaths due mostly to egregious examples of safety negligence on the part of the captain and the Knickerbocker Steamboat company. O'Donnell (a history professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester Massachusetts) writes in a story-telling style. Historians may be frustrated by this style as there are no footnotes. An "About the Sources" section found at the end of the book includes a web address where footnotes can be found. O'Donnell uses mostly primary sources such as newspaper accounts and government documents. A map of the Gen. Solum's route in the front of the book is very useful.
O'Donnell presents a very thorough account of the disaster. He even includes information (garnered through research and interviews) on the nature of fires (p. 98). He adds some psychological explanations on leadership and heroism during emergencies (pp. 127 and 157) and even describes the different stages of panic (p. 115). O'Donnell demonstrates an excellent understanding of the time giving the readers such important information as the Victorian acceptance of risk and the fact that many people could not swim at the beginning of the century and CPR was many decades away. Background information is provided on many of the key players in the tragedy although Mayor McClellan and journalist Martin Green did not have as big a role in the story as one might think when they were introduced at the beginning of the book. Events leading up to the fire, the fire itself, the rescue efforts, and the aftermath are detailed very well. O'Donnell also does an excellent job explaining, in the chapter of Gen. Slocum's legacy, why the tragedy was quickly forgotten and overshadowed by the 1911 Triangle factory fire which resulted in far fewer losses. My only complaint is that O'Donnell did not examine the federal investigation of the Knickerbocker Steamboat Company and the U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service in the book (he only notes that case after case was dropped). The one investigation and trial that is covered is that of Captain Van Schaick. Although the captain did spend time in prison, he received public sympathy (even from the jury members who found him guilty) and was released early. Sadly, little came from this tragedy.
O'Donnell's account of the disaster is very moving. He presents facts but never strays away from the human element of the tragedy. The details on the many safety violations of the steamship will demonstrate how easily these deaths could have been prevented. I highly recommend this book and hope many people read it because this tragedy should have a greater place in American history and consciousness. The book includes a middle section of photos and contemporary newspaper clippings on the inside cover (hard cover edition).
Rating:
Summary: An inferno of catastrophic proportions
Review: I was unfamiliar with this historic tragedy, the fire on board the steamboat General Slocum in 1904 that cost 1,300 people their lives, on a church-sponsored outing on a popular venue that delivered charters to Long Island Sound for one-day excursions. The emotional devastation brought on by this horrendous event changed Germantown forever.The author puts a human face on the group that participated in the outing, an annual event that offered a welcome respite to daily lives filled with drudgery. Although only a one day event, for the many residents of Germantown, the outing was equal to the two week vacations gaining popularity with working class New Yorkers, certainly as close as these day-trippers would get to any kind of leisure. The outing was carefully planned, tickets sold and whole families dressed up in their Sunday best. In 1904, fire was a fact of life for New York City, especially along the waterfront. In fact, mandatory inspections were made of such vessels by special governmental oversight agencies; however, in the case of the General Slocum, the inspector failed to note the deterioration of the life preservers or fire hoses that were the original ones installed thirteen years prior. When the fire raged out of control, people were without any means of escape. Even the life boats were wired in place and could not be released. The fire spread unchecked as passengers realized they were in mortal danger, smoke obscuring their vision. The crew made no effort to fight the flames or assist the desperate passengers, a factor that turned crisis into catastrophe. Most of the passengers couldn't swim and were further weighted by their clothing. Rotten life preservers turned into 20 pounds of dead weight as those who wore them jumped into the water, never to resurface. When is was all over, 1,300 people had lost their lives, many of them children, too often all the children and mother in a family, most fathers staying home to work. Row upon row of hastily assembled coffins lined a makeshift morgue as relatives searched for loved ones. Public outrage was immediate and an inquest was called to deal with the aftermath of the fire. Someone needed to be accountable, but as so often happens in these things, the real culprits, the owners of the General Slocum and the inspectors, were well insulated by teams of lawyers. As weel, time was on their side, a fact they understood well. O'Donnell has written a well-documented and moving account of a tragedy that stunned the city of New York on that June day in 1904, when a merry group of church-goers meant to enjoy their annual outing, only to have their vessel burst into flame around them, not far from shore. The decisions made in the moment of crisis only added to the numbers marked for death. The author introduces captain, crew and passengers in the moments before the horror began, then describes the chaos that ensued when the flames raged around the unsuspecting victims. Above all, the people of New York City, especially the decimated population of Germantown, needed to know that a special commission would prevent another accident like this. But the public memory is short; by the time of the Triangle Shirt Factory fire, people had, indeed, forgotten about the General Slocum. All but the inhabitants of Germantown, who lost loved ones that were never recovered and those who stood over row upon row of tiny coffins, knowing they would never see their children again. These people never forgot the day they lost so many of their community, an event that changed the terrain of their lives forever. Luan Gaines/ 2004.
|
