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The acclaimed author of A Prayer for the Dying brings all his narrative gifts to bear on this gripping account of tragedy and heroism-the great Hartford circus fire of 1944.
Halfway through a midsummer afternoon performance, Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus's big top caught fire. The tent had been waterproofed with a mixture of paraffin and gasoline; in seconds it was burning out of control, and more than 8,000 people were trapped inside. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of survivors, O'Nan skillfully re-creates the horrific events and illuminates the psychological oddities of human behavior under stress: the mad scramble for the exits; the hero who tossed dozens of children to safety before being trampled to death.
Brilliantly constructed and exceptionally moving, The Circus Fire is history at its most compelling.
You can't ask for a more dramatic story, and Stewart O'Nan captures it all in an extraodinary book, Circus Fire
— USA Today
By the time O'Nan had finished graduate school, a few of his short stories had begun to attract some attention. He moved his family west and taught at the University of Central Oklahoma and the University of New Mexico. Then, in 1993, he hit pay dirt when his short story collection, In the Walled City, won the Drue Heinz Prize for Short Fiction. A year later, his first novel, Snow Angels, was awarded a Pirate's Alley William Faulkner Prize. Since then, he has gone on to forge a distinguished literary career. A self-described "fiction-writing machine," the multi-award-winning O'Nan averages a book a year. In 1996, Granta named him one of the Twenty Best Young American Novelists.
Although critics try to shoehorn his fiction into the horror genre, O'Nan's writing is far too complex and nuanced to permit such blatant categorization. True, his stories are suffused with trauma and tragedy, and his characters react unpredictably to the stress of terrible events; but the violence in O'Nan's fiction owes as much to Flannery O'Connor as to Stephen King -- two authors he acknowledges as important influences.
In addition to his novels, the prolific O'Nan has written a nonfiction account of the notorious 1944 Hartford Circus Fire. He is also co-author with fellow Bo-Sox fan Stephen King of Faithful, a chronicle of the team's legendary 2004 season.
"Growing up, I delivered the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to David McCullough's, Annie Dillard's and Nathaniel Philbrick's houses. The Philbricks tipped you a dime to put it in their screen door."
"The first novels I read with rapt fascination were Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan series -- coverless, bought for a dime apiece at a Cub Scout rummage sale."
"Back in the early '80s, when I'd just begun to read seriously, I met Doris Lessing at the Kenmore Square Barnes & Noble before her very first game at Fenway Park. She seemed genuinely excited, and apprehensive, as if she might be asked to play."
"The library is still my favorite place in the world."
"I'd rather be reading than doing anything else, including writing."
"I'm an obsessive collector -- coins, books, records, baseball cards."
| Foreword | xi | |
| Cleveland, 1942 | 1 | |
| July 4, 1944 | 19 | |
| Principals | 24 | |
| July 5, 1944 | 25 | |
| July 6, 1944 | 37 | |
| Circus Day | 39 | |
| Showtime | 48 | |
| The Point of Origin | 68 | |
| Our Boys in Uniform | 73 | |
| Blue Sky | 78 | |
| Animal Acts | 82 | |
| The Bravest Girl I've Ever Seen | 86 | |
| This Ain't No Time to Faint, Lady | 91 | |
| Don't Look Back | 95 | |
| The Stars and Stripes Forever | 100 | |
| Ten More Bars! | 105 | |
| Death by Fire | 109 | |
| Alive, Alive, Alive | 114 | |
| Have You Seen Him? | 119 | |
| Bringing Out the Dead | 127 | |
| Triage | 131 | |
| Unexpected Guests | 137 | |
| Extra, Extra | 143 | |
| We Can't Reach You, Hartford | 147 | |
| A G.I. Party | 153 | |
| The Names of the Dead | 160 | |
| Bad Face | 174 | |
| Evidence | 180 | |
| In the Evening, Sun Is Going Down | 186 | |
| Go to Sleep | 188 | |
| Bad News | 195 | |
| Were You in Cleveland? | 199 | |
| All Through the Night | 204 | |
| And on Till Morning | 205 | |
| July 7, 1944 | 213 | |
| July 8, 1944 | 229 | |
| July 9, 1944 | 239 | |
| July 10, 1944 | 243 | |
| July 11-July 15, 1944 | 251 | |
| July 15-July 31, 1944 | 261 | |
| August-December, 1944 | 273 | |
| 1945 | 289 | |
| 1946-1950 | 303 | |
| 1950 | 313 | |
| 1950-1990 | 329 | |
| 1990-1991 | 343 | |
| 1991-1999 | 355 | |
| Acknowledgments | 365 |
Anonymous
Posted January 21, 2012
This book covers in detail the terrible tragedy of that day. Highly reccomended for the circus or history buff.
It's amazing that so many people went to the circus to forget their troubles, and instead ended up at best traumatized and at the worst dead. I'll definitely never look at a circus the same again, or for that matter any event that happens under a tent. Worth a read, definitely, but very graphic in parts so not for the faint of heart.
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Posted December 6, 2010
my first nook book and enjoying it thus far
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Posted September 8, 2002
This story brought the tragedy to life and made the fire even more heartbreaking. The in depth interviews and accounts of the disaster are extremly vivid and interesting. Great read!
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Posted December 13, 2001
I listened to the unabridged audio version, which was compelling indeed--especially, but not exclusively, if the listener is or was a 'local' to the Hartford area. I think the audio might have made it more dramatic than reading it; on the other hand, the book has some photos that you miss with the audio. One thing about the audio that I seem to recall was a few place names mispronounced, which was a little annoying--it doesn't seem to me an unreasonable expectation for the reader (who was not the author) to have checked on the proper pronunciation. But it was a minor annoyance & nonlocals wouldn't even notice.
Some of the background stuff at the beginning about other circus fires tested my patience a little as I wanted him to 'get to the Hartford stuff,' but once he got into the Hartford stuff, the reason for all that background stuff became clear & was helpful. I thought the amount of research he did to bring all this together was impressive.
I thought he did a very good job of writing about a very complex subject and making it 'followable.' To say it lacked some dramatic emotionality is like saying that the events of 9/11 needed reporters to add drama to the events to make the response emotional--the events are sufficient unto themselves & don't need anything added.
It is very true that some of the description can be gruesome, but I would say anyone who can handle what's on TV these days can probably handle it.
One way it haunted me, besides thinking about certain locations as I drive around Hartford, is that I'm now a little more uncomfortable when in a crowded place--I'm constantly conscious of when a place must be beyond its fire code occupancy level & how would all those people get out, & I pay attention to where the exits are & stay near one of them--which is much like the PTSD some of the victims experienced, & I got it (to a smaller degree of course) just from hearing about it! So I'd say it was dramatic enough!
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Posted June 11, 2001
During the dog days of summer in a small city in Connecticut during 1944, the Big Top came to town, promising a diversion from the depressing news of World War II and the oppressing heat. A tent was pitched in an open field, the animals and concessions set up, and tickets were sold. During one afternoon's performance a fire was started (you'll have to read how), and the tent went up almost instantaneously, trapping hundreds of people inside and starting an hysterical stampede towards the few available exits. This is an account that is meticulously researched and grippingly told. It will continue to haunt your thoughts long after you've finished the book. Beware that this book is not for the faint of heart; the descriptions of burned survivors and charred bodies seem awfully vivid. Otherwise, a memorable cautionary tale.
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Posted August 9, 2001
In the preface to the book, the Author writes that he wrote a non-fiction account of the Circus Fire because even the most well written fictionalized account could not tolerate the lapses, coincidences and gaps that occur in real life. Truth really is stranger than fiction!!! First and foremost this story is a gripping human saga that will leave you talking about the story and thinking about the book for weeks. I would love to see a follow up book detailing what happened throughout the later lives of the survivors and the families of victims. Read this book!
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Posted September 26, 2000
I had only the most superficial knowledge of this tragedy, including the 'unidentified little girl' known in O'Nan's book as 'Little Miss 1565.' 'The Circus Fire' answers some questions and raises others about not only how and why this tragedy took place but how humans collectively behaved in the face of adversity. The passages detailing the children going through skin grafts are by far the most heartbreaking. As effective and compelling as the story is told, the style is repetorial in a non ground breaking way; this is no Truman Capote/'In Cold Blood.' As an account of the tragedy this is definitive; as an account of a fire disaster it cannot surpass 'To Sleep With The Angels' by David Cowan and John Kuenster, detailing the December 1, 1958 fire at Our Lady of Angels School in Chicago. Images in that haunt me to this day. O'Nan's account is fascinating, if a bit clinical. An effective investigation of a tragey lacking the emotional resonance it ought to put its subject over.
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Posted June 22, 2000
Effectively describes the horrors of the fire, its causes, repercussions. O'Nan debunks myths about the disaster, and has his own take on the identity of Little Miss 156
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Posted September 6, 2011
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Posted June 12, 2011
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Posted September 20, 2009
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Posted February 18, 2009
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Posted July 5, 2011
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Overview
The acclaimed author of A Prayer for the Dying brings all his narrative gifts to bear on this gripping account of tragedy and heroism-the great Hartford circus fire of 1944.
Halfway through a midsummer afternoon performance, Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus's big top caught fire. The tent had been waterproofed with a mixture of paraffin and gasoline; in seconds it was burning out of control, and more than 8,000 people were trapped inside. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of survivors, O'Nan skillfully re-creates the horrific events and illuminates the psychological oddities of human behavior under stress: the mad scramble for the exits; the ...