Reviews

"The "Slocum" always held a fascination for me, and it was a thrill to find her scattered remains off New Jersey in 2000. Edward O'Donnell provides a dramatic and compelling narrative of New York's saddest tragedy before 9/11. It's a fascinating probe into the holocaust that killed hundreds of women and children, and O'Donnell does a spellbinding job of making the calamity come alive."
--Dr. Clive Cussler, maritime explorer and author of "The Sea Hunters" ""Ship Ablaze" is a century-old disaster story brought to life with awful intensity and heartbreaking clarity. O'Donnell's incisive narrative races with the doomed steamer "Slocum" up New York's East River, illuminates the thousand obscure lives lost, and picks through the negligence for which no one was held sufficiently accountable."
-Gerard Koeppel, Author of "Water for Gotham
"
"With a novelist's touch, Edward O'Donnell tells the tale of a forgotten tragedy,
and offers lessons we can still learn from a single terrible day in New York.
The stories and characters in this remarkable book will live with you in
years to come."
-Terry Golway, Author of "So Others Might Live
"
"In the riveting storytelling tradition of "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea," O'Donnell uncovers the first complete account of New York City's greatest pre-September 11 disaster. Not only a portrait of a time and a tragedy, "Ship Ablaze" rises to the highest use of narrative history: that in every time there are the innocent and the brave -- and there is hope."
-Michael Capuzzo, Author of "Close to Shore
"""Ship Ablaze" is a riveting and timeless story of greed, negligence, and bureaucratic inertia at the turn of thetwentieth century that sheds ample light on our own. In his brisk, engaging style O'Donnell not only examines the Slocum tragedy from every angle, but his penetrating analysis is full of compassion and the smallest human details that bring the pages of history vividly to life. "Ship Ablaze" presents a complex and moving portrait of human behavior at its cowardly worst and heroic best."
-Barnet Schecter, Author of "The Battle for New York
"
"No one has told this extraordinary story of horror and heroism better than Edward O'Donnell."
-Kenneth T. Jackson, President of the New-York Historical Society and Jacques Barzun Professor of History and the Social Sciences, Columbia University

"The "Slocum always held a fascination for me, and it was a thrill to find her scattered remains off New Jersey in 2000. Edward O'Donnell provides a dramatic and compelling narrative of New York's saddest tragedy before 9/11. It's a fascinating probe into the holocaust that killed hundreds of women and children, and O'Donnell does a spellbinding job of making the calamity come alive."
--Dr. Clive Cussler, maritime explorer and author of "The Sea Hunters ""Ship Ablaze is a century-old disaster story brought to life with awful intensity and heartbreaking clarity. O'Donnell's incisive narrative races with the doomed steamer "Slocum up New York's East River, illuminates the thousand obscure lives lost, and picks through the negligence for which no one was held sufficiently accountable."
-Gerard Koeppel, Author of "Water for Gotham
"With a novelist's touch, Edward O'Donnell tells the tale of a forgotten tragedy,
and offers lessons we can still learn from a single terrible day in New York.
The stories and characters in this remarkable book will live with you in
years to come."
-Terry Golway, Author of "So Others Might Live
"In the riveting storytelling tradition of "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, O'Donnell uncovers the first complete account of New York City's greatest pre-September 11 disaster. Not only a portrait of a time and a tragedy, "Ship Ablaze rises to the highest use of narrative history: that in every time there are the innocent and the brave -- and there is hope."
-Michael Capuzzo, Author of "Close to Shore
""Ship Ablaze is a riveting and timeless story of greed, negligence, and bureaucratic inertia at the turn of the twentiethcentury that sheds ample light on our own. In his brisk, engaging style O'Donnell not only examines the Slocum tragedy from every angle, but his penetrating analysis is full of compassion and the smallest human details that bring the pages of history vividly to life. "Ship Ablaze presents a complex and moving portrait of human behavior at its cowardly worst and heroic best."
-Barnet Schecter, Author of "The Battle for New York
"No one has told this extraordinary story of horror and heroism better than Edward O'Donnell."
-Kenneth T. Jackson, President of the New-York Historical Society and Jacques Barzun Professor of History and the Social Sciences, Columbia University