The Triangle Fire

On March 25, 1911, 146 employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City were killed in the span of a few minutes because no provision had been made for their safety in the event of fire. The Cornell edition of Leon Stein's 1962 account features 16 illustrations, some never before published. A new introduction by the journalist William Greider makes clear that accounts of dangerous workplaces and sweatshop conditions are still all-too-relevant today, ninety years after the fire. The story of the catastrophe and the doomed Triangle Shirtwaist workers, as told by one of the great labor journalists, will not soon be forgotten. Praise for the 1962 edition— "Stein . . . recreate[s] the tragic events of the fire in all their dramatic intensity. His moving account is a work of dedication."—New York Times Book Review"With commendable restraint, [Stein] uses newspapers, official documents, and the evidence of survivors to unfold a story made more harrowing by the unemotional simplicity of its narration."—Library Journal"Stein . . . suggests that the fire alerted the public to shocking working conditions all over the city and helped the unions organize the clothing industry, but his good taste keeps him from selling the reader any silver lining. A by-product of the careful research that has gone into this excellent narrative is an interesting sketch of the hard lives and times of working girls in the days when the business of America was business."—New Yorker

"Stein's straightforward, highly descriptive narrative is woven together as skillfully as a well-edited documentary film demonstrating that the nation's worst industrial tragedy didn't have to happen."―America@work, May 2001

"For some history on the labor movement, pick up the recently re-issued The Triangle Fire. . . . Stein's groundbreaking account of the 1911 disaster when fire and sweatshop conditions killed 146 employees is just as pertinent today."―George Yatchisin, Santa Barbara Independent, May 3, 2001

"This book . . . is a gripping and chilling reminder of what our foremothers endured to build a life in the New world. . . . The tragedy is no less riveting for being almost a century old."―Gwenn Kay, Jewish Observer, 12 July 2001

"Stein's book is based on the author's exhaustive research of contemporary sources, and his own interviews with survivors He vividly recreates the scene."―Jonathan Eaton. Our Times, June/July 2001

"Stein divided his book into two parts, an agonizing and detailed account of the shocking events of March 25, 1911, and an itemized report of the aftermath. This new edition retains Stein's stark chronicle and, . . . adds 16 pictures that greatly augment the narrative."―Morton I. Teicher. The Jerusalem Post, December 2001

"With regards to protest and changes in legislation, the Triangle Fire raised the consciousness of the American public, for a brief time. . . . Stein would ask us to reflect on the lessons of . . . industrial accidents, fires, and the toll of human carnage. History proves that under any economic system, accidents occur in the industrialization process. Yet we can argue that some industrial accidents, wars, and terrorist acts are preventable. Unbridled economic greed, whether under capitalism, democratic socialism, or communism, driven by what sometimes appears as contempt for human life, needs to be harnessed, or in economic terms, regulated."―Kate Laskowitz, Purdue University, Shofar, Winter 2004

"Leon Stein's gripping narrative of the Triangle tragedy is one of the classics of American history. And William Greider has added an introduction that bluntly, eloquently describes how little conditions have changed for sweatshop workers the world over. As the grandson of a one-time Triangle seamstress, I salute the reissue of a book that anyone who cares about labor, past or present, should read."―Michael Kazin, Georgetown University. Author of The Populist Persuasion: An American History and other books.