A true disaster story rivetingly told.
On the morning of July 24, 1915, the 2,500 passengers aboard the excursion ship SS Eastland were looking forward to a pleasant outing at a Lake Michigan destination but instead found disaster.
In a tautly written, vividly detailed, suspenseful narrative, Sutton chronicles the event that stands today as the greatest loss of life on the Great Lakes. From the time of the Eastland’s launch in 1903, design flaws making her susceptible to listing were known though kept quiet by the company that owned it. The ship was top-heavy, which became evident when passengers congregated on the upper decks. Several incidents in the intervening years indicated the Eastland was destined for catastrophe. It occurred when the ship was chartered to take employees and their families from Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne Works to a picnic in Michigan City, Indiana. This was a major event for the workers, most of whom were first- and second-generation Polish and Czech immigrants and could not take holidays. The Eastland capsized in the Chicago River while still moored to the pier. Seventy percent of the 844 passengers and crew who perished were under the age of 25. Sutton raises several provocative questions: Why is so much known about the Titanic’s sinking and yet so little about the Eastland disaster? Why was no one ever held responsible for this catastrophe? Her fast-paced account makes ample use of primary sources, plaiting them into her narrative naturally as dialogue.
A true disaster story rivetingly told. (maps, photo, diagrams, source notes, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-61373-943-3
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality.
An examination of the history of Chinese American experiences.
Blackburn opens with a note to readers about growing up feeling invisible as a multicultural, biracial Chinese American. She notes the tremendous diversity of Chinese American history and writes that this book is a starting point for learning more. The evenly paced narrative starts with the earliest recorded arrival of the Chinese in America in 1834. A teenage girl, whose real name is unknown, arrived in New York Harbor with the Carnes brothers, merchants who imported Chinese goods and put her on display “like an animal in a circus.” The author then examines shifting laws, U.S. and global political and economic climates, and changing societal attitudes. The book introduces the highlighted people—including Yee Ah Tye, Wong Kim Ark, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Vincent Chen—in relation to lawsuits or other transformative events; they also stand as examples for explaining concepts such as racial hierarchy and the model minority myth. Maps, photos, and documents are interspersed throughout. Chapters close with questions that encourage readers to think critically about systems of oppression, actively engage with the material, and draw connections to their own lives. Although the book covers a wide span of history, from the Gold Rush to the rise in anti-Asian hate during the Covid-19 pandemic, it thoroughly explains the various events. Blackburn doesn’t shy away from describing terrible setbacks, but she balances them with examples of solidarity and progress.
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality. (resources, bibliography, image credits) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780593567630
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
A balanced, well-written, and compelling survey of broad significance and usefulness.
Fairbanks (Anishinaabe) skillfully narrates the complex history of the treatment of Indigenous people in the present-day U.S. from the pre-colonization era to contemporary cultural revitalization.
Although this book is focused on boarding schools, the author begins the narrative long before their creation, offering crucial background knowledge by introducing readers to cultural values that guided daily life and intertribal relations in the Americas before the arrival of European colonizers. She carefully outlines the frameworks that affected the relationships between tribes and early explorers, settlers, and the federal government, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny. Next, breaking down the treatment of Indigenous peoples into seven eras from the 1770s through today, she discusses the many shifts in attitudes, treaties, and laws, including harsh efforts to “civilize” Native children. Written in a conversational style, the substantive narrative helps readers comprehend the policies that led to the establishment of boarding schools and understand how they were run. While Fairbanks doesn’t shy away from describing children’s mistreatment in the schools, she includes stories of survivors who went on to excel in their careers despite these experiences. The narrative is interspersed with occasional historical photographs, vignettes, and poems that add to an understanding of the boarding school experience. Each chapter ends with engaging questions that support deeper discussions. Text boxes furnish definitions of terms like Indigenous, genocide, treaties, assimilation, and self-determination.
A balanced, well-written, and compelling survey of broad significance and usefulness. (author’s note, list of boarding schools, resources, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026
ISBN: 9780593811399
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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