Customer Reviews

Overall a poor addition to the books about the Cocoanut Grove Fire
I thought the book was poor because it lacked academic structure and therefore is of little use to the historian. The book itself is nicely presented including photographs. However there is no list of photographs at the front of the book and not all of the photographs are referenced. The book has no endnotes or list of references, and direct references are rarely made within the book. Considering the book is one of four that I have found about the fire at the Cocoanut Grove the author rarely compares or contrasts his findings with those of the other authors. For example Paul Benzaquin (page 32) in his book Holocaust gives the impression that John Bradley and numerous others escaped via a hidden backdoor. However Esposito claims on pages 36 and 43 that Bradley didn't use this exit and instead escaped through a kitchen window in the Basement. Importantly Esposito does not make a note of this difference and as a reader I found this and other examples like it quite irritating. Whilst reading this book I found myself constantly referring to the two other books I had read about the fire to see how the author's interpretations of events differed. Esposito writes as though he is an authority on the subject however with no comparisons, references or endnotes I was unable to see how he came to some of his conclusions.

I found the author's style of writing very confusing and at times rambling. Fortunately there is an Index in the book which I had to use to piece together peoples individual stories. Considering the nature of the tragedy I expected to have to do this to some extent but nowhere near as much as I did. At times the author wants to follow one persons escape fully and at others he seemed to pick up and drop peoples stories as and when it suited. The style of writing also meant that there seemed to be alot of repetition. Descriptions such as those of the main dining room as a 60 by 60 foot square room with a 600 square foot wooden dance floor in the middle and a 900 square foot rolling roof see pages 59-61. If that is possible! Failed to impress me.

The author wrote about Lynn Andrews the Grove photographer who survived the fire and according to him chronicled events. However none of her photographs are used in the book. Although the author describes one even this isn't used as an example, why wasn't it used in the book? If you are interested there are examples in Paul Benzaquin's book Holocaust.

Ultimately the subject of the fire at the Cocoanut Grove deserves a better and more definitive account than this.

Important History Lesson
I have been a fire investigator for over 30 years and thought I was fairly knowlegable with respect to this historical fire. That's until I read this book. John Esposito's attention to detail is second to none - and I learned facts about this fire never mentioned in any book, trade publication or even the National Fire Protection Assoc. analysis. My hat is off to Mr. Esposito and I recommend this book to anyone who thinks history doesn't repeat itself.
m. keegan

A Gripping Tragedy
Author John C. Esposito presents a moving account of this 1942 "Fire In the Grove." It is hard to believe that 490 people lost their lives in one one night. What is so tragic about all of this is that this deadly fire could have been prevented, had it not been for the gross negligence of the owners/management, as well as city officials who turned a blind eye toward safety issues. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to other readers.