Books about the circus fire

 

Famous Fires - cover

Famous Fires by Hugh Clevely, published by The John Day Company, 1958.

Accounts of twenty-five fires over the years which resulted in disastrous loss of life or property. Includes five pages dedicated to the circus fire, and one picture of the fire.

This book is out of print.

 


Inferno!: Fourteen Fiery Tragedies of Our Time by Hal Butler, published by Henry Regnery Company, 1975.

Here are the great holocausts of the last hundred years - fourteen unforgettable tragedies recounted in vivid detail. Fourteen pages are dedicated to the circus fire, and one picture of the aftermath.

This book is out of print.

 

Inferno! - cover


Fires - cover

Fires by Elaine Landau

Children's book that examines the causes of some of the deadliest blazes in U.S. history. Eleven pages are dedicated to the circus fire, including several pictures.

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Circus Fire Memories, Survivor Recollections of July 6, 1944, by Don Massey.

Accounts from the actual people who experienced the blaze, felt its heat, witnessed its destructive effects, suffered the loss of loved ones, came to grips with the sorrow - and the guilty knowledge of their own survivval - that followed their escape from the burning grip of death, often with physical and emotional scars that would be carried for a lifetime.

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Circus Fire Memories - cover


The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart - cover

The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart, by Gabrielle Calvocoressi.

A collection of poems by a Connecticut author, including a 24-page poem entitled Circus Fire, 1944.

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Women and Children First:The Horrible Hartford Circus Fire by Donald H. Roy

The author's research on the circus fire is collected here and presented in a unique style - dialogic, since in politics there are always many different, compelling voices and perspectives to consider. In this circus fire book, there is a dialogue between the documentary evidence (the many voices) and the author's commentary. Growing up a New Englander puts Roy in that tradition of seeking public accountability, thus the underlying, persistent theme of this book.

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The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy by Stewart O'Nan

Stewart O'Nan interviewed dozens of witnesses and examined police reports, newspaper accounts, and court documents while researching the fire. The result is an engrossing--though agonizingly painful--account of the great fire and its aftermath. He probes the tragedy's enduring mysteries--How did the fire start? Who are the unidentified victims? Who is Little Miss 1565?--and offers up conclusions of his own.

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A Matter of Degree: The Hartford Circus Fire & The Mystery of Little Miss 1565 by Don Massey & Rick Davey

A Matter of Degree is a true story and the definitive account of a renowned fire investigator and the nine-year mission of the heart that led to the discovery of arson and political conspiracy in the 1944 Ringling circus fire, an American tragedy equal in scope to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. LT. RICK DAVEY's internationally publicized re-investigation of the celebrated case resolved all of the mysteries swirling around the suspicious blaze that destroyed the Ringling circus and killed 168 people--including a beautiful but unknown 8-year-old girl who was known for 50 years as "Little Miss 1565."

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Masters of Illusion : A Novel of the Connecticut Circus Fire by Mary Tirone-Smith

The fire that roared through the Barnum & Bailey Circus tent in Hartford, Conn., on July 6, 1944, took 169 lives and injured 2000 others. Tirone-Smith makes that conflagration central to her new novel, a skillfully controlled, moving psychological exploration of secrets, traumas and family relationships. The narrator, Margie Potter, was only six months old on the day her mother took her to the circus; her mother perished, and Maggie herself bears livid scars on her back. Having spent her youth repressing her memories and burying herself in books, Margie marries an intense fireman, Charlie O'Neill, who is singularly obsessed with the fire and determined to find the arsonist whom he is certain set the blaze.

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