Product Description

The story of one of the deadliest fires in American history that took the lives of ninety-two children and three nuns at a Catholic elementary school in Chicago. An absorbing account...a tale of terror. --New York Times Book Review

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #488537 in Books
• Published on: 1996-02-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 312 pages

From Publishers Weekly
On December 1, 1958, a fire at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago killed 92 pupils, most between the ages of nine and 12, and three nuns. This deeply affecting account of that tragedy by two Illinois journalists recreates the horror that destroyed a school and parish. The causes of the tragedy were manifold: outdated fire laws that permitted an edifice built before 1908 to escape a code passed in 1949 to insure safer schools; severe overcrowding; delay in reporting the fire; nuns ordering their pupils to pray rather than try to escape. Nor did municipal and archdiocesan officials help matters, their philosophy being that the fire was best forgotten; when a former student admitted to setting the blaze, they tried to conceal his confession. One positive result of the fire were the safety improvements made in 16,500 U.S. school buildings within a year. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Cowan, an independent journalist in the Chicago area, and Kuenster, a former reporter and columnist for the Chicago Daily News, fashion a gripping story from the events surrounding the tragic 1958 fire that swept through Chicago's Our Lady of the Angels elementary school. The fire, which left 92 elementary school children and three nuns dead, had profound effects on surviving students, parents, the surrounding neighborhood, and the city of Chicago. The tragedy spawned a nationwide school fire-safety program that is now often taken for granted. Cowan and Kuenster piece together a moving narrative based on the eyewitness accounts of surviving children, parents, firemen, doctors, nurses, and arson investigators. Although appropriate for any collection that serves general readers, this book is particularly recommended for Chicago-area libraries.
Robert J. Favini, Bentley Coll. Lib., Waltham, Mass.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In Chicago on a cold December afternoon in 1958, Our Lady of the Angels School burned ferociously; within minutes, 92 students and 3 nuns perished. Chicago journalists Cowan and Kuenster, who began to research this story independently, combined forces to write their riveting chronicle of the fire and its aftermath as survivors dealt with physical and emotional scars. Graphic descriptions of how the fire spread and was finally quelled are coupled with heroic rescues and tragic deaths. Even seasoned firefighters were horrified by the number of children they found burned or asphyxiated in their second-floor classrooms. The inquest never determined the fire's cause, although two young boys were suspected of arson. Since both were underage at the time (in Illinois, no one under 13 can be prosecuted for setting a fire) and details of their confessions were inconclusive, neither was charged. As a result of this disaster, fire codes across the country were revised to require sprinkler systems in schools. This is a devastating tale that will not soon be forgotten. Jennifer Henderson

Customer Reviews

Every emotion comes out with this book
This is perhaps the most heartbreaking book I have ever read. It takes very little time in getting to the fire. A variety of factors (an old school building, ignorance of the blaze, very disciplined students, teachers not realizing the danger, absurd school fire policies, and incorrect information given to the Chicago Fire Department) led to this tragedy. The book gives perspectives from surviving students, teachers, priests, parents, firemen, policemen, and journalists. There are many disturbing passages and a few pictures that just took my breath away (among those a firemen carrying a deceased boy). It is hard to believe that this fire back in 1958 is still "unsolved". The end of the book tells of two suspects and how the Catholic Church stonewalled the investigation. The book also does a great job of telling about the many consequences of the fire- some felt years later.

Although most of the book can be gut-wrenching there are moments of triumph as well. Many firemen and citizens are heralded for their bravery and quick thinking. The book also tells the tragic tale of the school janitor who saved many lives yet was later considered a suspect and his life virtually destroyed.

This book really came to life when I saw a PBS documentary about the fire. Most of the people in the book are featured.

A Masterpiece of storytelling!
As a student of a Catholic elementary school in norhtern Illinois, I was shocked and scared to death by the rumors that came from my relatives in Chicago about this tragic event. I too went to an old two story frame school with stairs, high window sills and a six foot wrought iron fence around the perimeter of the school building waiting to spear anyone who would jump from above! This is a gripping and emotionally charged piece of literature, as well as an excellent piece of investigative reporting. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. My uncle, a commander in the Chicago Fire Department on that day, refuses to talk to this day other than to say ruefully is "That was a BAD fire." Through all the heartache and pain I read in each chapter, I could not separate myself from those children. As I watch my youngest go to high school now, I am grateful for the changes that came as a result of the OLA fire, yet an saddened and somewhat ashamed of the cost. As a legal practitioner, I bear a sense of guilt at the handling and prosecution of the person I believe (and the book believes) responsible for the deaths of 92 students and 3 nuns. As a former Catholic, I can recall all too well the absolute authority of the church, which ultimately failed its parishoners. I have passed the book along to a friend who is working on his Master's Degree is School Administration as a testament of the duties and responsibilities a community shares towards its schools. Although the subject of the book is a disaster about the most precious things on earth, our children, it serves well as an indictment for all to recognize the value of those too young to protect themselves. I wish there had been more development of the successes enjoyed by the survivors and possibly a summation ascribing the culmulative effects and benefits that resulted from the sweeeping changes regarding fire safety in our schools nationwide. Nevertheless, this book is an excellent read and an extraordinary piece of work. My hat is off to the authors.

A frightening book
This is the most terrifying book I have ever read. As both a mother and a teacher, I found I could not put it down. I literally read all day until I finished it. It is a story of almost unbelievable sorrow and tragedy. Not for the faint of heart, or those easily distrubed. I found it to be a fair, well written account of a horrific event.