Fire in the Heart of the City

A compelling and original narrative history of New York's Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, exposing how New York's elite transformed the tragedy into the foundation of modern American charity.Fire in the Heart of the City details the riveting story of what happened when a tragic fire in Greenwich Village threw Adolph Ochs, the ambitious new publisher of the New York Times, and Rose Schneiderman, a defiant young labor organizer, against each other in a momentous conflict. Following the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire–the worst disaster New York City had ever experienced–a significant feud emerged between New York's wealthy elite and labor rights' activists over who should organize the city's response: a nascent charity sector led by the city's wealthiest bankers or the reform-focused unions of Lower Manhattan.A revelatory account that captures the rapid ascent of modern charity in America, this deeply researched book recreates what happened next, a watershed moment when a handful of charities on the brink of irrelevance were suddenly recast as New York's best answer to addressing the social and economic conditions responsible for the fire–a story long buried by destroyed files and hidden partnerships. Drawing on newly released archival documents, previously confidential reports, private diaries and interviews, David Conrad-Pérez uncovers the unprecedented campaign that advanced a small group of bankers and social elites, and their idea for a new type of charity, as experts on the very problems they were blamed to create, saving the reputations of everyone involved–for now.An absorbing portrait of an extraordinary moment, Fire in the Heart of the City takes readers inside the most influential event in the formation of modern American charity, bringing new light and nuance to this profoundly dangerous and misunderstood legacy.