Holy Cross Professor and Author of General Slocum Book Available for Comment on Disaster's 100th Anniversary June 15

WORCESTER, Mass. – Edward T. O’Donnell, associate professor of history at the College of the Holy Cross and author of Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum (Broadway Books, 2003) is available for comment on the 100th anniversary of the General Slocum steamboat fire on June 15. The disaster was New York’s deadliest tragedy prior to Sept. 11.

An expert on the General Slocum fire of 1904, in which over 1,000 of New York’s Lower East Side residents perished, O’Donnell has written the only book available on this chapter in New York’s history. Ship Ablaze draws on first hand accounts to examine why the death toll was so high, how the city responded, and why this event failed to achieve the infamy of the Titanic’s 1912 demise or the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Active in the field of public history, O’Donnell has curated several major museum exhibits on American history and has appeared in several historical documentaries. He has provided historical insight and commentary for PBS, the Discovery Channel, ABC World News Now, National Public Radio, the BBC, Bloomberg Radio, WOR Radio, FOX TV, and VH-1. From 1998 to 2001 he was featured on WNYC Radio (the local NPR affiliate in New York) as a commentator during NPR’s “Morning Edition” and as a regular guest on “On the Line.”

O’Donnell earned his B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross and his Ph.D. in American history from Columbia University. The author of 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish-American History (Broadway Books, 2002), he is currently completing a social biography of Henry George due out later this year.

O’Donnell will be in New York next week, where he will attend several memorial services and special presentations related to the Slocum disaster. He may be contacted by cell phone at 508.826.1572 or by e-mail at eodonnel@holycross.edu.