Circus Fire A True Story of an American Tragedy

"O'Nan lapses into garrulity once the fire and its immediate aftermath are past. But for me his lavish documentation (which so often reads as if he were a news paperman on the scene, phoning in as many facts and impressions as possible) suggests a larger theme. Perhaps the circumscribed horror of a circus fire of fun gone wrong will typify not the old century but the new one, in which we may suffer a pox of isolated catastrophes rather than a few gigantic worldwide conflagrations. In capturing them, a writer of manifold talents like Stewart O'Nan ought to prosper."O'Nan, Stewart is the author of 'Circus Fire A True Story of an American Tragedy' with ISBN 9780385496858 and ISBN 0385496850.