The Italian Hall Tragedy

The book has been out a little over a year now (and we have almost sold out the third printing) — but one comment has come to me several times. People tell me that they wish the book had endnotes. I had someone tell me this last week after I gave a lecture. I had the book in my hand, so I opened it to page 218 and showed her that the book has endnotes — pages 218 to 233 note the source for every single sentence in the book which could be taken objectively (i.e., statements of fact are all noted).

For example, on page 176 I mention that an architectural historian examined the building and wrote a report. This section is found under the heading of “Lingering controversies: the Door Controversy.” On page 229 of my endnotes (which are titled “Notes” — which I believe is the most common name for a section of notes) under the heading Lingering controversies — the Door Controversy, I write:

“Harrington’s report is The Historical American Building Survey: Italian Hall HABS No MI-425. There is a copy at the MTU Archives.”

So, any reader who was curious about my statement could see where I found it and go find it themselves. most of my other notes are like that — when they refer to a particular sentence my note begins with the first few words of the sentence I am noting. This method of noting is becoming more common in the publishing industry because 1) it is much easier to read the text and 2) people can still look up the sources if they so desire.

Steve

As noted below, my publisher recently put out a facsimile of the inquest transcript that is much cleaner and easier to read than the copy of the transcript at the Tech archives.  One of the things that recently occurred to me is that the copy at Tech has some writing on it that is NOT on mine — indicating that someone wrote on the copy after the proceedings were over.  It might seem like a minor point but someone took a green ball point pen (ball points were not common in the US before 1945) and scribbled on the index to the transcript next to the names of the people who signed the document (for example, it says :”He signed: Battista Brusso”next to Brusso’s name on the first page of the index.)  Some researchers have included that language in their transcriptions of the inquest — when they were clearly added later.  I suspect they were made in the 1970s, but that’s just a hunch on my part.  It’s also a good reason to look at the best copy of the original you can find, if you want to study this event.

Steve

Had a great turnout at the Grand Rapids Public Library.  They taped it and put a podcast and mp3 of it on the internet.  You can hear the audio of my presentation here:
http://www.grpl.org/yourlibrary/pods/DeathsDoor.mp3

You’ll have to imagine the photogarphs that accompany me talking . . .

Steve

I will be participating in the “CELEBRATION OF THE BOOK” at the Grand Rapids Public Library on October 20th.  I will be speaking on a panel of Michigan Authors at 11 am and then will be talking specifically about “Death’s Door” at noon (with a power point presentation.  Here’s the link to their site: http://www.grpl.org/perl/events.pl?search=oct+20

Steve

FREE! Magazine in Finland published a very nice review of Death’s Door (in English).  See:

http://www.freemagazine.fi/

Steve 

The transcript will be back from the printer later on this week and you can now order it from Amazon.  Check out:

http://www.amazon.com/Italian-Hall-Official-Transcript-Coroners/dp/1879094800/ref=sr_1_4/103-5005823-7916638?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191374398&sr=8-4

Steve

The Michigan Bar Journal just reviewed my book:

http://www.michbar.org/journal/pdf/pdf4article1220.pdf

That’s the magazine sent to the lawyers who are members of the Michigan Bar.  And, it’s not written in legalese.

 Steve

I mentioned a while back that someone had gotten me a copy of the Italian Hall coroner inquest transcript.  This is the document that “went missing” for almost half a century and then two copies appeared that were hard to read.  The one I was given is very clear.  My publisher has agreed to make a copy of it so that people who are interested in looking into the story in more depth can obtain a copy for themselves.  Before this, the only way you could examine a copy would be to travel to Houghton or Calumet and look at the copies there.  I also wrote an introduction for it that explains in detail why the transcript is important and what we can learn from it.  Here’s the cover:

 

This will help up set the record straight on a few more myths that won’t seem to die.

I’ll let you know when we have an exact release date set.

Steve

The guys at www.1913massacre.com sent me a note — they posted an excerpt of the film on the net.  See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6A8p0mHp14

They’re also working on raising money to finish the film.  Visit their site for details.

 Steve

I’ve been lax in posting here, although I have still been busy.  I spoke at Finn Fest this past Saturday and will be in the UP again next week.  On August 9th I will be in Chassell, signing books at Einerlei and speaking at the school where my grandmother taught a while back.  See: http://www.einerlei.com/community/CHO.html

 

Steve