You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
I was born and raised in Connecticut (and a big chunk of that happened to be in Hartford), but I didn't hear about the Hartford Circus Fire until about three years ago when I went to the Manchester Public Library for the first time and saw about 50 copies all around the library (In fact, there are 145 copies in that one branch alone). I was intrigued about what had happened, yet I didn't check out the book. Instead, I went to wikipedia (I know, I know...) to get a broad overview about what happened. That satisfied me at the time. Well, the Ringling Bros. circus showed up in Hartford a few months ago and that brought all my intrigue on the fire back, and now here we are.
The Circus Fire is a heartbreaking book. It's heartbreaking that 167 people died and it's even more heartbreaking that a bit chunk of the deceased were children. Then, you have the fact that most of the people who died didn't die of smoke inhalation. Some of them were trampled to death, but most of them were burned to death. However, I think the most heartbreaking thing is that these deaths could have been prevented. This wasn't the first circus fire that the Ringling Bros. had experienced and other circuses were using some chemical to fireproof the big tops. Yet, the Ringling Bros. circus didn't do this citing that they couldn't get the materials because they didn't have military priority (which Stewart O'Nan just proves is crap). It's enough to make anyone angry.
The most intriguing part of The Circus Fire were the mysteries that surrounded it. The cause of the circus fire, the true identity of Little Miss 1565, the identities of the other five victims who were never identified, these mysteries were never solved. O'Nan writes this story with chilling detail and painstaking honesty. It's hard to read about those people who pushed others out of the way so they could get to the exits first, but it is uplifting to hear about those who risked their lives to try to save the others who were still trapped inside.
The Circus Fire is a heartbreaking book, but I commend Mr. O'Nan for knowing that it was a story that needed to be told without trying to exploit the survivors and their grief (the way another Circus Fire book did). This story is saddening, but not without hope. He brings the events that happened to life for those who weren't there to see or feel the effects of the fire. I urge everyone to pick up a copy of this great book.
The Circus Fire is a heartbreaking book. It's heartbreaking that 167 people died and it's even more heartbreaking that a bit chunk of the deceased were children. Then, you have the fact that most of the people who died didn't die of smoke inhalation. Some of them were trampled to death, but most of them were burned to death. However, I think the most heartbreaking thing is that these deaths could have been prevented. This wasn't the first circus fire that the Ringling Bros. had experienced and other circuses were using some chemical to fireproof the big tops. Yet, the Ringling Bros. circus didn't do this citing that they couldn't get the materials because they didn't have military priority (which Stewart O'Nan just proves is crap). It's enough to make anyone angry.
The most intriguing part of The Circus Fire were the mysteries that surrounded it. The cause of the circus fire, the true identity of Little Miss 1565, the identities of the other five victims who were never identified, these mysteries were never solved. O'Nan writes this story with chilling detail and painstaking honesty. It's hard to read about those people who pushed others out of the way so they could get to the exits first, but it is uplifting to hear about those who risked their lives to try to save the others who were still trapped inside.
The Circus Fire is a heartbreaking book, but I commend Mr. O'Nan for knowing that it was a story that needed to be told without trying to exploit the survivors and their grief (the way another Circus Fire book did). This story is saddening, but not without hope. He brings the events that happened to life for those who weren't there to see or feel the effects of the fire. I urge everyone to pick up a copy of this great book.
This was an interesting account of the time back in the summer of 1944 that a Ringling Bros. circus tent caught fire during one of its matinee performances in Hartford, Connecticut. The tent had apparently been slathered in a mixture of paraffin and gasoline to make it rain-proof...because what could possibly go wrong? *slaps forehead*. I listened to the audiobook which made keeping track of all the names of those injured challenging but, overall, it was an interesting account of an event of which I had no prior knowledge.
Website: http://www.circusfire1944.com/
Website: http://www.circusfire1944.com/
If you are looking for a book that will make you cry, find this one immediately. The tragedy of the Hartford Circus Fire of 1944 is not for the weak of heart. O'Nan details the circumstances leading up to the fire and then the disaster itself followed by the progress of the case. O'Nan does a spectacular job with the fire itself. He chronicles the adrenaline fueled crush of people and how many of them perished in the fire (167 people died total). For the middle chunk of this book, I would cry every paragraph. It's a heart-wrenching tragedy. It's a reminder of the perils of humanity but also the goodness that can be found in the darkest moments.
First off, I started reading this book and I didn't have a real reason why. I love the circus, but I knew exactly what I was getting into here: a really depressing nonfiction with a lot of unsolved history and more questions than answers. As I was finishing it today, I happened to read the date of the fire for the ten millionth time... and realized that the anniversary of that fire is today. Just a creepy little bit of synchronicity to bring everything around full circle.
Anyway, this book was de-pres-sing! Not that it had any business to be anything but, of course. But if you're looking for a book that wraps everything in a neat little package and answers all of your questions, or makes you want to toss it aside and go find the Shriners... you should probably not read this book.
I actually feel disappointed after finishing this. Not because it was poorly written, or boring (though it did seem long), but because nothing has been solved. That's no fault of the author's, and I didn't dock any stars from the rating because of it, but I feel unfulfilled somehow. There's probably no way at this point to ever get the answers to the questions the book raises.
On one hand, this book is really disjointed—you read one sentence about a person and then three chapters later there's another sentence about the same person. In fact there's really only one victim that gets mentioned in several paragraphs so the reader gets the full effect (Little Miss 1565). It makes it hard to follow someone's story when it's spread out, one sentence at a time, over a whole book. On the other hand, the disjointed writing style almost feels perfect for this book—it worked, and it worked because it was a very simple and effective way to make me feel like they must have felt all those years ago. There was a sentence about the mayor, maybe halfway through, where it said at the beginning of the disaster all of these people were strangers and by the end of the day they were all familiar to him. That's how I felt at the end of this.
Another thing—this book was really kind of graphic. Not over the top graphic. It wasn't needless gore. It was “hey, this is what happened.” And if there are images now that are always going to stick in my mind, well, maybe that's not a bad thing. But seriously, I'm never going to forget the description of a mother and a child who literally melted together.
Usually with nonfiction books I don't always like a completely unbiased account. This time, I liked that the author didn't try to impose any of his own theories on the “unsolved mystery” part of the book. Enough to disprove the theory of the unknown girl's identity, sure, but he never came out and said who he thought she was, either.
I'm just going to say this to get it off my chest, even though it's not a problem with the book, just with people in general. There were SEVERAL unidentified victims and people only cared about one. It was very touching, how the two men went and put flowers on Little Miss 1565's grave every year until they died. Very nice how they said, “if she were my little girl I would want someone to remember her.” Well, that's very sweet. Except there are two other unidentified children, and they barely get a mention. Their graves are right there and they never get flowers. I'm not trying to cheapen the men and their completely sweet act. I'm asking why it seemed like no one cared about the other two. (Note: I do understand that it's because 1565 was so recognizable and still unidentified. That's not the point I'm trying to make here.) I think at the end of it, I felt worse for the other two kids because they were just kind of forgotten in all the hype about the “famous” one.
I felt like they didn't deserve to get remembered because they got burned more. That is a really sad way to feel about something like this.
I don't think I'll ever reread this book. Not because it was bad, but because once is enough!
Anyway, this book was de-pres-sing! Not that it had any business to be anything but, of course. But if you're looking for a book that wraps everything in a neat little package and answers all of your questions, or makes you want to toss it aside and go find the Shriners... you should probably not read this book.
I actually feel disappointed after finishing this. Not because it was poorly written, or boring (though it did seem long), but because nothing has been solved. That's no fault of the author's, and I didn't dock any stars from the rating because of it, but I feel unfulfilled somehow. There's probably no way at this point to ever get the answers to the questions the book raises.
On one hand, this book is really disjointed—you read one sentence about a person and then three chapters later there's another sentence about the same person. In fact there's really only one victim that gets mentioned in several paragraphs so the reader gets the full effect (Little Miss 1565). It makes it hard to follow someone's story when it's spread out, one sentence at a time, over a whole book. On the other hand, the disjointed writing style almost feels perfect for this book—it worked, and it worked because it was a very simple and effective way to make me feel like they must have felt all those years ago. There was a sentence about the mayor, maybe halfway through, where it said at the beginning of the disaster all of these people were strangers and by the end of the day they were all familiar to him. That's how I felt at the end of this.
Another thing—this book was really kind of graphic. Not over the top graphic. It wasn't needless gore. It was “hey, this is what happened.” And if there are images now that are always going to stick in my mind, well, maybe that's not a bad thing. But seriously, I'm never going to forget the description of a mother and a child who literally melted together.
Usually with nonfiction books I don't always like a completely unbiased account. This time, I liked that the author didn't try to impose any of his own theories on the “unsolved mystery” part of the book. Enough to disprove the theory of the unknown girl's identity, sure, but he never came out and said who he thought she was, either.
I'm just going to say this to get it off my chest, even though it's not a problem with the book, just with people in general. There were SEVERAL unidentified victims and people only cared about one. It was very touching, how the two men went and put flowers on Little Miss 1565's grave every year until they died. Very nice how they said, “if she were my little girl I would want someone to remember her.” Well, that's very sweet. Except there are two other unidentified children, and they barely get a mention. Their graves are right there and they never get flowers. I'm not trying to cheapen the men and their completely sweet act. I'm asking why it seemed like no one cared about the other two. (Note: I do understand that it's because 1565 was so recognizable and still unidentified. That's not the point I'm trying to make here.) I think at the end of it, I felt worse for the other two kids because they were just kind of forgotten in all the hype about the “famous” one.
I felt like they didn't deserve to get remembered because they got burned more. That is a really sad way to feel about something like this.
I don't think I'll ever reread this book. Not because it was bad, but because once is enough!
I thought this would be right up my alley, but it was suuuuuuuuuuper dry. I mean, who mentions that Charles Nelson Reilly was present at the historical event you wrote a whole book on, and doesn't dwell on that for more than a sentence. It's not really much for a casual reader.
Although the circus industry had not been immune to fires — one in Cleveland had killed several animals — the largest of the shows, P. T. Barnum, could brag that no one had lost a life because of a fire. There had been several close calls, however. Another fire had burned the big top, the canvas catching fire from sparks of a fire down the road. The canvas was covered with a mixture of 6,000 gallons of white gasoline and 18,000 pounds of paraffin to make it waterproof. Unfortunately, that also made it burn like a candle.
The effects at the fire in Hartford were to show the need for an alternative. It was a very hot July 6, 1944 at the end of the war. Workers at the circus were in short supply, but circuses were a popular source of entertainment. They had arrived late and were forced to cancel the first show, not a good sign for the superstitious. The crowd was near capacity, close to 9,000, although the exact number was never determined O'Nan meticulously takes us through the background and erection of the tents and characters . No one is quite sure what happened; arson was long suspected, but given the extremely flammable nature of the materials and the number of smokers, it could also have been an accident. Several people claim to have seen the origin, a small flame near the bottom of one side of the tent. It spread very quickly. The circus water trucks had been left parked at the edge of the lot, instead of close to the tent as was the usual practice. Whether it would have made a difference in the outcome is uncertain. Unlike most fires, where the victims usually die of smoke inhalation, this fire killed either as a result of people being smothered as they were trampled in the rush to the exits, or by horrible burns as pieces of the flammable tent fell on the people below, the paraffin sticking to them like napalm. Many of the dead had been burned beyond recognition, but considering the number of people at the event, the death toll, 167, was much lower than I would have expected.
Ironically, many of the survivors said the most horrible memory of the fire was the screaming of the animals as they were burned alive, yet no animals were injured in the fire. It was humans they heard. Reminiscent of the Titanic, the band leader struck up Stars and Stripes, Forever, the circus emergency signal and played it over and over again until the last possible moment. Many children were saved by one of the clowns who tossed children over the gates and down the animal chutes away from the fire.
The resulting civil suits forced Barnum & Bailey into receivership and to abandon tents. Several circus officials were indicted and imprisoned for manslaughter. Eventually, B&B moved into concrete sports arenas. The details tend to become overly gloomy, but it remains a wellresearched account of an American tragedy. To this day, one child's charred body has never been claimed and remains unidentified.
The effects at the fire in Hartford were to show the need for an alternative. It was a very hot July 6, 1944 at the end of the war. Workers at the circus were in short supply, but circuses were a popular source of entertainment. They had arrived late and were forced to cancel the first show, not a good sign for the superstitious. The crowd was near capacity, close to 9,000, although the exact number was never determined O'Nan meticulously takes us through the background and erection of the tents and characters . No one is quite sure what happened; arson was long suspected, but given the extremely flammable nature of the materials and the number of smokers, it could also have been an accident. Several people claim to have seen the origin, a small flame near the bottom of one side of the tent. It spread very quickly. The circus water trucks had been left parked at the edge of the lot, instead of close to the tent as was the usual practice. Whether it would have made a difference in the outcome is uncertain. Unlike most fires, where the victims usually die of smoke inhalation, this fire killed either as a result of people being smothered as they were trampled in the rush to the exits, or by horrible burns as pieces of the flammable tent fell on the people below, the paraffin sticking to them like napalm. Many of the dead had been burned beyond recognition, but considering the number of people at the event, the death toll, 167, was much lower than I would have expected.
Ironically, many of the survivors said the most horrible memory of the fire was the screaming of the animals as they were burned alive, yet no animals were injured in the fire. It was humans they heard. Reminiscent of the Titanic, the band leader struck up Stars and Stripes, Forever, the circus emergency signal and played it over and over again until the last possible moment. Many children were saved by one of the clowns who tossed children over the gates and down the animal chutes away from the fire.
The resulting civil suits forced Barnum & Bailey into receivership and to abandon tents. Several circus officials were indicted and imprisoned for manslaughter. Eventually, B&B moved into concrete sports arenas. The details tend to become overly gloomy, but it remains a wellresearched account of an American tragedy. To this day, one child's charred body has never been claimed and remains unidentified.
Week 41 of the 2016 Reading Challenge: A book about a major world event. I guess it's kind of stretching it to say this was a major world event but I thought the category was actually just any historical event when I chose this.
Circus Fire: The True Story of an American Tragedy by Stewart O’Nan
★★★
On July 6, 1944 in Hartford, Connecticut a fire would rage out of control at the circus taking place, killing over a hundred children and adults and injuring many, many more.
The first thing that interested me about this book was the intro. Stewart O’Nan is not an historian. He is novelist. He admits fairly quickly that he had no urge to write this book due to lack of writing such subjects but took it on. This is mostly interesting because in the past, reading history books from those inexperienced in how to write them, have ended badly for me. Luckily, that was not the case for this book. My main complaint was reading it on the Kindle. The amount of typos and lack of punctuation took away from the story. I had whole paragraphs that just didn’t have periods, where it was obvious they were supposed to be. And that was just the beginning.
I started this book in January and while good, it took a lot out of me at times. Reading about so much tragedy and death was exhausting and after my loss, reading this book became that much more difficult but with a mere 40 pages left, I figured it was time to finish the book. It’s an interesting part of history that has been forgotten over time (and as the remaining survivors dwindles) that still holds many mysteries (such as how was it started). This book definitely isn’t for everyone. It deals with tragedy and not everyone is into the history genre but it is fascinating and probably more so if you read a copy that doesn’t have so many spelling and punctuation errors ;-).
★★★
On July 6, 1944 in Hartford, Connecticut a fire would rage out of control at the circus taking place, killing over a hundred children and adults and injuring many, many more.
The first thing that interested me about this book was the intro. Stewart O’Nan is not an historian. He is novelist. He admits fairly quickly that he had no urge to write this book due to lack of writing such subjects but took it on. This is mostly interesting because in the past, reading history books from those inexperienced in how to write them, have ended badly for me. Luckily, that was not the case for this book. My main complaint was reading it on the Kindle. The amount of typos and lack of punctuation took away from the story. I had whole paragraphs that just didn’t have periods, where it was obvious they were supposed to be. And that was just the beginning.
I started this book in January and while good, it took a lot out of me at times. Reading about so much tragedy and death was exhausting and after my loss, reading this book became that much more difficult but with a mere 40 pages left, I figured it was time to finish the book. It’s an interesting part of history that has been forgotten over time (and as the remaining survivors dwindles) that still holds many mysteries (such as how was it started). This book definitely isn’t for everyone. It deals with tragedy and not everyone is into the history genre but it is fascinating and probably more so if you read a copy that doesn’t have so many spelling and punctuation errors ;-).
A little dry and hard to keep track of whose related to whom but a touching blow by blow of a tragedy and how it affected an entire community. Highly recommended to those who want to delve deeper into circus history.
Interesting story of a real life event. However, I feel the author was too concerned with lists and lists of names.
A more narrative form might have left a real emotional connection to the people involved. Trying to follow 33 people in 8 groups was just confusing.
A more narrative form might have left a real emotional connection to the people involved. Trying to follow 33 people in 8 groups was just confusing.