We look forward to seeing you on your next visit to the library. Find a location near you.

The Hamlet Fire: a tragic story of cheap food, cheap government, and cheap lives
(Book)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Published:
New York : The New Press, [2017].
Physical Desc:
303 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
Status:
Arcade
363.11966 S594 2017
Central
363.11966 S594 2017
North Highlands-Antelope
363.11966 S594 2017
Description


"Captivating and brilliantly conceived. . . [The Hamlet Fire] will provide readers with insights into our current national politics."
—The Washington Post
A "gifted writer" (Chicago Tribune) uses a long forgotten factory fire in small-town North Carolina to show how cut-rate food and labor have become the new American norm

For decades, the small, quiet town of Hamlet, North Carolina, thrived thanks to the railroad. But by the 1970s, it had become a postindustrial backwater, a magnet for businesses searching for cheap labor with little or almost no official oversight. One of these businesses was Imperial Food Products. The company paid its workers a dollar above the minimum wage to stand in pools of freezing water for hours on end, scraping gobs of fat off frozen chicken breasts before they got dipped in battered and fried into golden brown nuggets and tenders. If a worker complained about the heat or the cold or missed a shift to take care of their children or went to the bathroom too often they were fired. But they kept coming back to work because Hamlet was a place where jobs were scarce. Then, on the morning of September 3, 1991, the day after Labor Day, this factory that had never been inspected burst into flame. Twenty-five people—many of whom were black women with children, living on their own—perished that day behind the plant's locked and bolted doors.

Eighty years after the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, industrial disasters were supposed to have been a thing of the past. After spending several years talking to local residents, state officials, and survivors of the fire, award-winning historian Bryant Simon has written a vivid, potent, and disturbing social autopsy of this town, this factory, and this time that shows how cheap labor, cheap government, and cheap food came together in a way that was bound for tragedy.

Also in This Series
Copies
Location
Call Number
Status
Arcade
363.11966 S594 2017
On Shelf
Central
363.11966 S594 2017
On Shelf
North Highlands-Antelope
363.11966 S594 2017
On Shelf
More Like This
Other Editions and Formats
More Copies In LINK+
Loading LINK+ Copies...
More Details
Format:
Book
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781620972380, 1620972387

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Reviews from GoodReads
Loading GoodReads Reviews.
Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Simon, B. (2017). The Hamlet Fire: a tragic story of cheap food, cheap government, and cheap lives. New York, The New Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Simon, Bryant. 2017. The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives. New York, The New Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Simon, Bryant, The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives. New York, The New Press, 2017.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Simon, Bryant. The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives. New York, The New Press, 2017.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
66d1785b-3699-e76c-78cc-3e4d66152d1f
Go To GroupedWork

Record Information

Last Sierra Extract TimeMar 27, 2024 07:31:16 PM
Last File Modification TimeMar 27, 2024 07:31:45 PM
Last Grouped Work Modification TimeMar 29, 2024 02:17:20 AM

MARC Record

LEADER01717cam 2200421 i 4500
001ocn974699690
003OCoLC
00520180427102909.0
008170410s2017    nyuab    b    001 0 eng  
010 |a 2017014037
020 |a 9781620972380
020 |a 1620972387
040 |a DLC|b eng|e rda|c DLC|d BTCTA|d YDX|d BDX|d JAI
042 |a pcc
043 |a n-us-nc
049 |a JRSA
05000|a TH9449.H2|b S56 2017
08200|a 363.11/9664930975634|2 23
099 |a 363.11966 S594 2017
1001 |a Simon, Bryant.
24514|a The Hamlet Fire :|b a tragic story of cheap food, cheap government, and cheap lives /|c Bryant Simon.
264 1|a New York :|b The New Press,|c [2017]
300 |a 303 pages :|b illustrations, maps ;|c 25 cm
336 |a text|b txt|2 rdacontent
337 |a unmediated|b n|2 rdamedia
338 |a volume|b nc|2 rdacarrier
504 |a Includes bibliographical references and index.
5050 |a Hamlet -- Silence -- Chicken -- Labor -- Bodies -- Deregulation -- Endings.
61020|a Imperial Food Products.|b Plant (Hamlet, N.C.)|x Fire, 1991.
650 0|a Poultry plants|x Fires and fire prevention|z North Carolina|z Hamlet.
650 0|a Employers' liability|z North Carolina|z Hamlet.
650 0|a Industrial safety|x Government policy|z United States.
77608|i Online version:|a Simon, Bryant.|t Hamlet Fire|d New York : The New Press, [2017]|z 9781620972397.
907 |a .b25051775
945 |y .i76606302|i 33029103509634|l cenag|s -|k |u 4|x 1|w 1|v 3|t 3|z 09-08-17|o -
945 |y .i78343914|i 33029105346043|l arcag|s -|k |u 2|x 0|w 1|v 7|t 3|z 05-31-18|o -
945 |y .i78506827|i 33029105428379|l nhiag|s -|k |u 1|x 0|w 0|v 0|t 3|z 06-12-18|o -
998 |e -|d a |f eng|a arc|a cen|a nhi