PW: What drew you to the General Slocum disaster, which you've written about in Ship Ablaze?
Edward T O'Donnell: I am a history professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. My specialty is urban ethnic history. I became astonished that there was a disaster of this size in New York that virtually no one, including myself, had ever heard of. It is an unknown disaster of record proportions. Though the "Little Germany" neighborhood on the Lower East Side was dissolving like most ethnic neighborhoods, the General Slocum disaster obliterated it from the ethnic map of New York.
PW: Why did you place the disaster in the larger context of New York City and America at the turn of the 20th century?
ETO: It was about the arrogance of the age. You have all kinds of things going on, like the theme of greed, that the owners of the steamboat were not going to pay a nickel more for safety equipment than they had to. Going hand in hand with greed was neglect. Some significant steamboat fire was waiting to happen.
PW: Can you tell us about your research?
ETO: In addition to many primary sources, I had a day-long interview with Adella Wotherspoon, the last living survivor of the Slocum. She was only six months old when the fire happened. She obviously has no memory of the fire, but she lost two older sisters and her mother was badly burned. Her father kept this amazing scrapbook, which she said was probably his therapy. It was a wonderful resource for me. There was also incredible firsthand dialogue from the newspaper accounts.
PW: How did you keep the breathless feel of the tragedy in your book?
ETO: I saw it as an event that moved with great speed. There was a sense of people making split-second decisions, the difference between life and death. There were tremendous acts of heroism, right on the heels of unspeakable cowardice. The drama was evident throughout.
PW: What were the circumstances of getting your book published?
ETO: My agent, John W. Wright, had me write a composite chapter that would make a prospective editor get a feel for the book. The chapter consisted of vivid scenes of the boat taking off and catching on fire. Broadway Books had published my first book, 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish-American History, and they had been very good to me. They made a very generous offer, and we accepted it. The advance was $120,000. I wrote it with the confidence that I was going to get substantial support from a major imprint.
PW: The book is being published right on June 10, right before the 99th anniversary of the Slocum tragedy. What kind of publicity are you doing for it?
ETO: I am an entrepreneur at heart. During the week of June 15, I have lined up readings and events every night in New York City. On June 15, I will lead a walking tour of the Lower East Side related to the General Slocum. Also, my Web site (www.general-slocum.com) will be a big resource. I am putting historical documents from the tragedy online.
PW: Why do you think disaster books are so popular?
ETO: It is a combination of horror and heroism. As much as we don't like to admit it, we slow down when we see an accident on the road. You are horrified by what happened, but you are astounded by the level of heroism. And we ask ourselves, what would I do? Would I be paralyzed by fear or would I jump into a burning building or dive into the water?
