by John Kuenster 179 pages
I am still reading what I can find about the Our Lady of Angels fire that occurred on December 1, 1958 in Chicago. This book, put together by John Kuenster, one of the authors of To Sleep with the Angels, is his collection of stories from fireman, parents, children, reporters, and other people who were in some way connected with the disaster. Published on the fiftieth anniversary of the fire, this book clearly shows that their thoughts and feelings about their experiences are still vivid.
I always think it's interesting to get viewpoints from people involved with an event, rather than just a news story or "after" story. By bringing together so many different perspectives, you get a unique view of this disaster. As the author states in the preface, the purpose of this book is not to give an account of the fire (which he did with David Cowan in their previous book), but to recapture some of the memories of this event. While these are colored by fifty years of memory, to read these accounts is to gain a deeper understanding of this horrific event that forever changed lived (and actually impacted fire safety from that point on).
Note: There is no link to this book in our catalog, as I obtained this book via inter-library loan.
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