Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)"The Winecoff Fire" is the true story of America's worst hotel fire. Working in downtown Atlanta, I often pass by the still-intact but abandoned hotel on Peachtree Street. I knew a few facts about the tragedy: that a Tech student won the Pulitzer Prize for his picture of a jumping lady; that many of Georgia's top high schools students were victims; and that many of the 119 dead were Georgians. I was curious to know more and, fortunately, this book came out. It includes the many aspects involved: cause, characters, individual experiences, scientific, political, historical, courage, benefit of info released years later, etc. Yet the book never bogs down. Yes, there are some vivid descriptions, but I didn't find them gratuitous at all. In fact, those tough parts brought home to me the real human horror of this tragedy. (Like what "Saving Private Ryan" did with war.) Even with the objective narrative, I get a sense of the authors being appalled and astonished at what happened. Sympathy, compassion, an understanding of sheer heartbreak, poignancy, and a quiet-but-obvious disgust with bad characters all kept emanating as I read. Those qualities made this book a lot more than just the "fact book" that I had originally bought it for. It was interesting that several friends read the book and they were surprised to learn of some family/friend connections with people involved in the fire. Years ago, Ralph McGill (the Atlanta journalist called the "conscience of the South") had encouraged someone to write about this story, but the effort was derailed. Fortunately, Mr. Heys and Mr. Goodwin put this together.
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