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The Circus Fire

The Circus Fire

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Add This - The Circus Fire

Written by Stewart O'NanAuthor Alerts: Random House will alert you to new works by Stewart O'Nan

  • Format: Trade Paperback, 384 pages
    •  
  • Publisher: Anchor
  • On Sale: June 12, 2001
  • Price: $15.95
  • ISBN: 978-0-385-49685-8 (0-385-49685-0)
Also available as an eBook.
about this book

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.

"Taut and loving, this books strains to the heart's outer limits. The Circus Fire is journalism in the service of literature, literature in the service of history."--Rick Bass