"The Hartford Circus Fire" by Michael Skidgell

One of my favorite folk duos, John and Mary released a very sad song called "July 6th" back in 1991.  That was the first time I had ever heard about the Hartford Circus Fire (which happened on July 6th, 1944).

I was curious again about the fire, and found that author Michael Skidgell put out a book about it called, "The Hartford Circus Fire: Tragedy Under the Big Top".

This is a very non-traditional book in a lot of ways.  Skidgell gives a lot of time to the fire, and discussing how people got trapped (168 circus goers died that day).  Obviously things happened fast and the fire spread quickly.

Then the author spends a lot of time giving a bio of the victims.  Though sad, I appreciated the generous amount of the book that is devoted to those who died at the fire, and their stories.  It was nice that photos were included showing many smiling, and enjoying themselves at an earlier point in their lives.

The last section covers the aftermath of the fire.

"The Hartford Circus Fire" feels more like a nice little tribute to those who died in the fire than a usual book on a topic.  I did appreciate this one a lot!