Summary Of Triangle The Fire That Changed America

The book Triangle: The Fire That Changed America written by David Von Drehle recounts the dreadful incident of fire that broke out in a Triangle Shirtwaist factory on March 25, 1911 and its aftermath. In the earlier part of nineteenth century Triangle Shirtwaist factory was running a lucrative business in a multistory building in the New York City. The factory was owned by the two men Isaac Harris and Max Blank and it was located on the upper three stories of the Asch Building which was back then considered and projected as an efficient fireproof building (History). On that unfortunate day, fifteen minutes of fire gulped one hundred and forty-six innocent lives who were struggling to keep themselves and their families afloat(CBS). Most of them

Union organizers were also among these people who took initiatives long before the fire, encouraging the sweatshop works to raise their voice and conduct strikes against the factory owners to improve the working conditions. The political activist also played their part making the labor laws a reality. Two prominent political workers who become a local power were, Alfred E. Smith and Robert Wagner. They become the representative of the poor immigrant working class and found their spot in the political machinery of Tammany Hall, long before the fire when the labor reforms were even a goal. In the post fire era, the narrative of theses political workers got strengthened. The other prominent political figure was Frances Perkins who started as the union supporter and later become a secretary of labor under the President of United States, Franklin Roosevelt. Perkins along with Wagner and Smith continuously made political moves so that the voice of the labor can be heard and to make the labor reforms into a

In this book readers can easily identify the factory owners and the political machinery as playing the bad guys. There was a tremendous anger among the family of the deceased workers as they demanded in trial that the owners Blanck and Harris should pay with their lives as their bad practices caused the tragedy. Both Blanck and Harris brought to trial on the charges of murder. Charles Bostwick, Assistant District Attorney was the who was representing the triangle factory workers and Max Steuer was the attorney of defendant. Max Steuer was a genius attorney and was nations best trial lawyer; he represented Blanck and Harris in such a smart way that Bostwick had no chance of winning. As a result, judiciary did not sentence Blanck and Harris to death in spite of having concrete evidences of negligence against them. Even though, the owners of Shirtwaist factory did not get the sentence they deserved but this tragedy finally compelled the political machinery to finally enact the