Customer Reviews

To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire

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Many books have been written about real-life tragedies, and in this sense, Cowan and Kuenster's book is no different. However, there is a thin line in these type of books between boring the reader by burying the human aspect of the story with an overload of factual material and becoming nothing more than a non-fiction hankie weeper. Quite a few books have disappointed me in the past by straying to either one side or the other. Not so with this one. It is a solid piece of reporting that does not lose the human dimension of the tragedy. Nor does it obscure the investigation and the facts with too much emphasis on the human dimension.

The fire at Our Lady of the Angels was one of the worst tragedies to strike America, made even more so in that the vast majority of its victims were innocent children. The authors follow the story from the day it occured to the fire itself and the heroic efforts of the fire department to the later delegation of blame and recriminations from what was seen as a bureaucratic conspiracy. In doing so they manage to bring the reader into the story not merely as a spectator but almost as a fellow reporter, sharing not only facts, but also conjectures and whispers plus personal items about the victims, always careful always to straddle the line between objectivity and thje trap of a "crusading" journalism. By letting the story speak for itself, they bring it home all the more forcefully, to where no one who reads it will remain unaffected.

This book should also serve as a warning against the false sense of security that this sort of thing cannot happen again. There are still many schools, public and private, at risk, and this is a book that should be read by every parent with children still in school, and not only during Fire Prevention Week.

This book took me back to a painful time in otherwise happy years as a child. In December of 1958 I was a third grader at St. Peter Canisius School, just northwest of OLA. I can remember watching the news bulletins on television, my mother weeping and praying and the unbelievable sadness at the sight of the dozens of small coffins. The changes in school fire codes were swift. Before the end of the school year, we were on half-day shifts because our basement classroom (somewith block glass windows) did not meet fire code. The authors of this book have brought to light that the 93 OLA martyrs left a legacy of change and improved safety for school children across the country and even around the world. I, too, was compelled to go back to the old neighborhoods - down North Avenue, past what used to be St. Anne's on Thomas Street where I was born, to Avers and Iowa. The authors remark how not even a plaque on the property remembers those who died. Even at this late date, I hope something will be done to remedy that injustice. I could not stop reading this book - even once past the horror of the actual fire, the investigative reporting was clear, concise, riveting and brings answers to so many questions. A must read, especially for Chicagoans.

My father is a firefighter who is now at a firehouse that actually help to put out the OLA fire. He remembers seeing the fire from his house a few blocks away, but doesn't like to talk about it. One man my dad used to work with was actually on the run that put out the fire. He also refuses to talk about it. Why do I mention that? Because it illustrates the most powerful part of the book for me: the fact that the fire still haunts those whose lives were affected by it. The authors did an excellent job researching the fire and give a gripping account of how/where it started, when the children and nuns realized the danger they were in and the efforts to save their own lives as well as the lives of their friends. Then the book turns to the aftermath of the fire. Did you ever wonder how the parents of the deceased reacted when they were finally given the news? The authors follow the severly burned children to the hospitals and chronical their recoveries or slow, painful deaths. It looks at how the genuinely heroic firemen coped with watching children jump out of firey classrooms to their deaths. Finally, the authors investigate the cause of the fire and give compelling evidence concerning who they believe started the it. I highly recommend this book. Lots of people spend time reading about "great tragedies" like battles, murders, etc., but ignore the equally devistating tragedies that happen in their own neighborhoods

I was a fourth grade student at Our Lady of the Angels at the time of the fire. Room 210. When I saw this book in the store, it immediately took me back to 1958. I find it very difficult to express in words how well these men have put down on paper what happened that day. I commend them and thier years of diligence putting this story in print. I have been in the fire service for 23 years (pure coincidence) and my heart and soul go out to those firemen that had to work that infamous day. The only closure this book was not able to provide is that I never was able to personally thank the fireman that pulled me to safety from room 210.

I found TO SLEEP WITH THE ANGELS one of the most fascinating books I have read in decades. Now a college professor, I was a teenager in New York when the fire took place. I was struck by the senseless horror of it: it stayed in my mind for years and when I read TO SLEEP WITH THE ANGELS I finally could learn all that I had now known about the work. I actually went to Chicago, met some of those survivors of the fire, went to the old neighborhood, visited cemeteries and relived my own past and could learn about that horrendous fire. I have never done anything like this as a result of reading a book and I have, believe me, literally read thousands of books in my long teaching career. Hats off to the authors: they have that unique talent that all professionals strive for-- to make History come alive both for those who were involved in it (in whatever way) and for those who never experienced the event. This is the BEST book on the subject of current History that I have ever read. I cannot speak too highly of this work and I recommend it to anyone who wants to become involved in one of the most heartbreaking events of our age. I have reread the book six times and plan to do it again. My students are fascinated by the work and many have begun independent research work on the fire, due only to the skill of the writers of TO SLEEP WITH THE ANGELS.

I am a teacher of English and history at a high school and a junior college. I have a son who is studying to be a professional fire fighter. In fact, I bought this book for him but read it first. This story is gripping and powerful. It is also beautifully written and it is clear the authors have a close affinity with the countless victims of this nightmare--the children, the nuns, the families, the fire fighters and all who suffered as a result of this catastrophe. To read this book is to go back in time to 1958. I was a student in a catholic elementary school at the time and this book captures the spirit of parochial schools of that era. Their tribute to the nuns who gave the last full measure for their children is overwhelming. In fact, it hs been a long time since a history has made me gasp aloud and I have to admit that I felt the tears well up as I read the accounts of tragedy, loss and heroics. The book captures a moment in time and stands as a tribute to those who died so young.

I have a personal connection to this story. Father Joseph Ognibene, one of the associate pastors at Our Lady of the Angels Church in 1958, was my uncle. Although I wasn't born yet at the time of the school fire (I was born exactly 27 days later), the story of the fire and how Father Joe helped save many children by pulling them from a window into an adjacent classroom was well-known in our family. He later had to identify the bodies of many of the children who didn't make it.

It was a story that my family discussed among themselves when Father Joe wasn't present, however, because he was too emotionally affected by the fire to talk about it. I totally agree with D. E. W. Turner, who wrote in his review of this book that many of the authorities involved in the fire later suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress, and that not talking about the event is a major symptom of this condition. This was certainly true of Father Joe. He would usually walk out of the room if the subject was brought up. Later on, when he was pastor at Our Lady Mother of the Church on Chicago's northwest side, he never liked to have candles or any kind of open flame in the building.

He agreed to be interviewed for this book, no matter how painful it was for him to talk about it, because he finally realized he needed to express the feelings he had carried inside ever since the fire. He also believed it was important to set the record straight -- that everyone involved in the fire did all they possibly could to save lives.

The book itself is excellent, a well-researched account that thoroughly describes what happened, how it happened, and the aftermath -- although it is also very disturbing because it is graphic in its description of how fire kills.

I make a point of reading this book every year at about this time, to remember Father Joe and all of the victims of the fire -- living and dead.

If anything good came out of the fire, it was the total rehaul of fire safety standards in American schools. Don't ever begrudge any taxes you pay for sprinkler systems and other fire safety measures at your schools -- this story is a perfect example of what can happen without those safety standards.

This book tells the account of a fire which my mother often told me about, with tears in her eyes. This book tells the conditions leading up to the fire in its tragic dimensions, notably the lack of sprinkler systems, the glass transoms above the doors, the absence of a fire door in the upper floor, and the highly combustable wood-based stairway and hallway. One can see how the smoldering fire in the stairway, probably set by a troubled child who was never charged with the act, "came to life" when a window broke, supplying fresh oxygen. Not long after the hot air, smoke, and combustable gases from the stairway fire rose up by convection and filled the hallways, trapping the class members. Worse yet, these combustion products soon flashed over, allowing the fire to suddenly set ablaze the entire hallway. Much the same happened in the attic area. Once the glass transoms separating the classrooms and now-ablaze hallway broke from the heat, the flame, heat, smoke, and toxic gasses had free access to the classrooms. What is surprising is not that 95 perished, but that many more did not. In fact, it is astonishing to learn that 150-200 were rescued by firemen. In view of the free conditions of fire spread, and the 10 minute delay between the smelling of the smoke and the first call to the fire department, it is amazing that the death toll was not much higher. THAT, in my opinion, is the most amazing fact given in this book.

ALTHOUGH ITS BEEN 42 YEARS SINCE MONDAY 2:40 PM DECEMBER 1,1958 ITS LIKE IT HAPPENED THIS MORNING. EVERY DETAIL OF THAT DAY IS IMBEDDED IN MY BRAIN JUST LIKE IT IS HAPPENING. I WAS ONLY 9 AT THE TIME AND BECAUSE I GOT OUT WITH 10 OTHERS AND 33 DIED IN MY ROOM ALONG WITH MY TEACHER SISTER MARY SARAPHICA THERE IS NOT A DAY THAT I DONT FEEL GUILTY AND ASK WHY I WAS SPARED. BUT GOD ONLY KNOWS THAT ANSWER AND HE WILL LET ME KNOW WHY. FOR A LONG TIME I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR OTHER SURVIVORS OF THAT HORRIBLE DAY AND I HOPE THROUGH THIS REVIEW THEY WILL CONTACT ME. MY MOM WAS MARTY THE CROSSING GUARD ON HAMLIN AND AUGUSTA. I HOPE SOMEONE CONTACTS ME SO I CAN READ THIS BOOK AND FIND SOME OF THE FRIENDS I HAVE LOST OVER THE YEARS. I ALSO HOPE THAT THE SCHOOL THAT HAS MEANT SO MUCH TO ME AND I AM SURE TO MANY OTHERS THAT HAS CLOSED THAT A MEMORIAL WILL GO UP TO HONOR THE ANGELS THAT DID GO WITH GOD THAT DAY.

The writing in this book is absolutely incredible. The authors wrote this story with compassion for all those concerned, and did it without resorting to sensationalism. Like the story about the Titanic sinking, this harrowing fire which took the lives of close to a hundred children and three nuns provided the background for a much needed change in the construction of schools and implementation of fire safety standards throughout the United States. Since I started school within a couple of years of this disaster, it is with much sadness that I read that the safety of my generation in the schools came about because of this fire. This story and the writing is so well done and well researched, with little speculation, is such that I would not only highly recommend this book to others, but this would make an incredible movie (along the lines of The Perfect Storm) if they followed the format and integrity of the book. I think this narrative of Chicago, its firemen, the courageous nuns and priests, and most of all the children and the families needs to be told again lest we become complacent about the safety of our children. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh