Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003. First Edition [stated]. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Glued binding. Paper over boards. [12], 340 pages. Advertising sticker on front of dust jacket. Includes Illustrations. Notes. Note on Sources. Selected Bibliography. Index. Signed by the author on the title page. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers - 123 women and girls and 23 men - who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Italian and Jewish immigrant women and girls aged 14 to 23; of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was 43-year-old Providenza Panno, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and Rosaria "Sara" Maltese. The factory was located on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the Asch Building, at 23-29 Washington Place, near Washington Square Park. The 1901 building still stands today and is known as the Brown Building. It is part of and owned by New York University. Because the doors to the stairwells and exits were locked (a then-common practice to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft), many of the workers who could not escape from the burning building jumped from the high windows. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers. The building has been designated a National Historic Landmark and a New York City landmark. From Wikipedia: "David James Von Drehle (born 6 February 1961) is a writer and journalist. He has written three books and many journalistic articles in his 32 year career. David Von Drehle earned his B. A in 1983 from the University of Denver, where he was also a Boettcher Foundation Scholar and editor of the Denver Clarion, the student newspaper. In 1985 Von Drehle graduated from Oxford University with a Masters in Literature as a Marshall Scholar. Von Drehle started his career in journalism at 17 years old, working with The Denver Post as a sports writer from 1978 to 1983. Von Drehle was the youngest sports writer that the paper has had. From there he moved on to The Miami Herald in 1985 and stayed on with the paper until 1991 as a staff writer. In 1988 while writing for the Miami Herald Von Drehle was awarded a Livingston Award, which recognizes excellence in young journalism and is given annually to journalist younger than 35 years of age. Von Drehle was honored for a series titled "The Death Penalty: A Failure of Execution". He was 27 at the time of the award, the youngest of the three journalists recognized that year. The piece also garnered Von Drehle the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award for excellence in Media and the Arts in 1989. During his tenure with the Miami Herald, von Drehle also received an American Society of News Editors Distinguished Writing Award, and has subsequently been featured in ASNE's collections of America's Best Newspaper Writing. In 1991 Von Drehle became the New York bureau chief for the Washington Post. A year later, he was sent to New Hampshire to cover the 1992 presidential primary, thus beginning his career as a political writer. David Von Drehle left the Washington Post in 2006 to become Editor-at-Large for Time Magazine. He has gone on to write 160 articles while at Time. Notable examples include a cover piece on controversial talking head Glenn Beck titled "Mad Man" that appeared in the September, 2009 issue. Von Drehle has also been a recurring contributor to National Public Radio's Morning Edition, speaking on his interview of Bob Woodward and discussing his book on the Watergate scandal.