Great way to learn about a forgotten tragedy

books:

	• The Sinking Of The Eastland: America's Forgotten Tragedy: America's Forgotten Tragedy Jay Bonansinga Citadel, 2005 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 17 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Sinking of the Eastland

Great addition to my library. Very personal to me since an aunt and two cousins died on the Eastland.

Forgotten and sad part of U.S. History

The Sinking Of The Eastland: America's Forgotten Tragedy: America's Forgotten Tragedy I learned about this true tragedy when I was watching a documentary on The History Channel. I had never heard of this particular incident and I wanted to know more. I searched Amazon and found this particular book.

It was well written, and actually I was quite amazed how much effort the author put into accumulating the facts and finding the few survivors left (or extended families thereof) to get an accurate depiction of this horror.

It shows how back in 1917 the country was even then not prepared for a catastrophe of this magnitude...isn't it ironic that we never learn in America? Look at 9/11, 84 years later we were still not prepared.

Readers of maritime and historical catastrophies will enjoy this book (I hesitate to say "enjoy" due to the circumstances); however I happen to be one of those who is inquisitive regarding these events, and I feel that even as a "baby boomer", we should always remember these times. They are part of a hidden American history.

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A must read

Just three years after the Titanic sank, another disaster involving a pleasure craft occurred - but only a few people remember it. The Eastland was a busy charter pleasure craft that once was a queen of Lake Michigan. But on July 24, 1915, nearly 2,000 Western Electric employees boarded her for their annual company picnic. They expected a fun-filled, care-free day of adventure on the lake. But, tragically, despite the best efforts of inspectors to have the ship's fatal flaws addressed, nearly 900 people died when the Eastland overturned-within sight of her dock in the Chicago River. Bonansinga's heartbreaking and detailed account of this forgotten event is a must read for anyone with a love of history-and the truth.
This fascinating nonfiction work delves into the disaster from every angle, including the frantic attempts by authorities to make the ship safer, the tragic day when so many lost their lives so needlessly, and (in this reviewer's opinion), the even-more horrifying chain of events in which the ship's owners, insurers, and Chicago's elite did their best to bury what really happened.
It's a powerful read, one that will leave you shaking your head at just how a few powerful people can impact the lives of the powerless. I've read this four times now, have given copies as gifts, and it my favorite work by a favorite author. Bonansinga may be better known for his wonderfully crafted thriller titles (Frozen, Twisted, The Killer's Game , and more). But it is this tale, one crafted from a tragic, embarrassing, and preventable event in America's history that is ultimately the most disturbing of his impressive canon.
(And now, every time I watch the shiny spectacle that is The Oprah Show, I cannot escape the knowledge that her studio once was called into service as the temporary morgue for the Eastland's victims. I wish Oprah would do a show on the Eastland (and invite the author in to tell his tale). It's a dark day in Chicago's history, but one that deserves its moment in the intensity of her supernova light.)
READ THIS BOOK - and share it with your friends. The memories of the people who perished no needlessly cry out in despair that their lives - and deaths - were so effectively shrouded from our collective memory. Bonansinga rights that wrong, and this book will stay with you long after the last page is turned.

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Great way to learn about a forgotten tragedy

I had not heard of this tragedy until Amazon recommended this book to me. Despite it's terrible subject, it is a book that grabs the reader and after one is done, makes one want to go research more on the subject. The author did a great job documenting the senseless acts of human error both before and after the accident. Like so many other senseless cases, it leaves us looking back in retrospect slapping our foreheads asking over and over, "Why?"

Forgotten American History

I had never heard about the Eastland disaster until one day finding a "In Memory of..." picture showing the ship in good times and didn't even know anything about the Eastland, so I went to The Eastland Historical Society's webpage and started reading through it and though there is a great deal of information on the website (highly recommend the website, as well), I wanted to know more and with this book it gave a more personal view of what happened on that summer day in 1915. This is an extraordinary account of a tragic day in American History that very few have even heard of and after reading it, will never forget!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

Chicago, Saturday, July 24, 1915: Over two thousand Western Electric employees and their families, dressed in their finest, arrive early at the riverfront to board the Eastland, a bold and breathtaking steamship. The boat is scheduled to ferry its passengers to the annual company picnic in Michigan City. Suddenly, as it sits in port, the Eastland begins to list. While thousands of people watch in horror, the ship rolls to its side and silently capsizes, killing a staggering 844 people... The Eastland tragedy was witnessed by nearly 10,000 bystanders and claimed more lives than the infamous Chicago Fire. Taking place in broad daylight on the city's bustling wharfside, it was a heartbreaking maritime disaster that sorrowfully echoed the sinking of the luxury liner Titanic just three years earlier. But the victims of this terrible mishap weren't among the world's most rich and famous. They were everyday people who worked hard for the right to enjoy a day's pleasure. They did not know that for many aboard, this day would be their last. And the only thing more shocking than the event that took their lives is the fact that it has been all but forgotten. Until now...

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