To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire
Author: David Cowan
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
Journal of American History -
A journalistic account of tragedy...haunting and honest.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
A harrowing depiction of carnage, hysteria, fear, faith, heroism, and heartbreak.
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 The causes of the tragedy were manifold: outdated fire laws that permitted an edifice built before 1908 to escape a code passed in 1949 to insure safer schools; severe overcrowding; delay in reporting the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. (Apr.)
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.
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.
New interesting book: Fat Counter or Im Still with You
House That Love Built: The Untold Story of Linda & Millard Fuller, Founders of Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller Center for Housing
Author: Bettie B Youngs
After pursuing their lifelong belief that every person deserves a "simple, decent place to live," Linda and Millard Fuller found themselves locked out of the Habitat for Humanity organization that they founded. Pending legal action forced them to remain silent. Now in The House That Love Built, the true story is told of how a dedicated, charismatic leader, who attracted people like President Jimmy Carter to his cause and raised millions of dollars, was wrongly accused of sexual misconduct and pushed aside by a Board with a new agenda for Habitat. Millard and Linda Fuller's story inspires entrepreneurial spirit?starting a business from a simple idea?and Christian spirit-sacrificing material success for making the world a better place. America's largest non-profit foundation Habitat for Humanity includes 1700 affiliates and two million people: during 30 years, hundreds of thousands of volunteers, donors and activists together built 200,000 homes. Youngs unravels the nationally publicized controversy in eloquent, compelling detail, including the sexual misconduct accusation and ensuing corporate "takeover." She demonstrates the power of unproven allegations and how they can be used to serve the purposes of whoever wields the power. The book inspires you to believe that you can make a difference in the world by donating a little time to a home-building project. Nothing appeals to readers more than the intrigue of controversy and the compassion of helping people. The House That Love Built has both.
Erica L. Foley - Library Journal
Christian self-help author Youngs's (Living the Ten Commandments in New Times: A Book for Teens) insightful biography, more of Millard than of Millard and Linda, includes a detailed history of Habitat for Humanity International. Millard became an entrepreneur in his youth, excelling in various sales endeavors; he and Linda were millionaires before they were 30. Youngs relates the spiritual and marital crises that followed and how the Fullers gave away their wealth and shifted their goals to loving God by serving humanity. Eventually, this calling resulted in the formation of the world's largest nonprofit home-building organization with the goal to end the blight of low-income housing and homelessness worldwide. Youngs devotes nearly one-third of the book to the conflicts between the Fullers and Habitat's board and to the firing of Millard in 2005. Spending so much time on these issues may seem biased, but this book is not a mere polemic; it is an informed look at two philanthropists and their revolutionary work. The parts about Millard's faith will resonate with Christian readers. Recommended for spiritual living or philanthropy sections in most public libraries. [The author is a friend of the Fullers.-Ed.]
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