"An extraordinary book. O'Nan is amazing in his handling of the abundance of fact, rumors and legends that have
built up around this fire."
--USA Today
"[O'Nan's]non-fiction is as accomplished as his fiction.... [The Circus Fire is] as gripping as any thriller."
--The Seattle Times
Submitted By Publisher, November, 2004
Summary
The acclaimed author of A Prayer for the Dying brings all his narrative gifts to bear on this gripping account
of tragedy and heroism-the great Hartford circus fire of 1944.
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.
