To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire

by David Cowan, John Kuenster Narrated by Sean Runnette

Overview

If burying a child has a special poignancy, the tragedy at a Catholic elementary school in Chicago almost fifty years ago was an extraordinary moment of grief. One of the deadliest fires in American history, it took the lives of ninety-two children and three nuns at Our Lady of the Angels School, left many families physically and psychologically scarred for life, and destroyed a close-knit working-class neighborhood. This is the moving story of that fire and its consequences, written by two journalists who have been obsessed with the events of that terrible day in December 1958. It is a story of ordinary people caught up in a disaster that shocked the nation. In gripping detail, those who were there-children, teachers, firefighters-describe the fear, desperation, and panic that prevailed in and around the stricken school building on that cold Monday afternoon. But beyond the flames, the story of the fire at Our Lady of the Angels became an enigma whose mystery has deepened with time: its cause was never officially explained despite evidence that it had been intentionally set by a troubled student at the school.

Editorial Reviews

Cleveland Plain Dealer

A harrowing depiction of carnage, hysteria, fear, faith, heroism, and heartbreak.

A journalistic account of tragedy...haunting and honest.
—Journal of American History

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's 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 The causes of the tragedy were manifold: outdated fire laws that permitted an edifice built before 1908 to escape a code passed in 1949 to insure safer schools; severe overcrowding; delay in reporting the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.

ABC News - Hal Bruno

Every parent, teacher, and school administrator should read this story of a tragic loss of life.

Chicago Tribune - Mike Royko

A fascinating read about an American tragedy that never should be forgotten.

The New York Times - Peggy Constantine

Detailed reporting and straightforward writing...an absorbing account.

Journal of American History - Dominic A. Pacyga

A journalistic account of tragedy...haunting and honest.

Georgie Anne Geyer

Gripping...even today there stands no memorial to those who died, perhaps this beautiful remembrance can be that memorial.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171012717
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	03/14/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,103,112

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