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On November 1 1918 as the Great War in Europe was entering its final hours afivecar elevated train was heading for the Flatbush section of Brooklyn withhundreds of homewardbound commuters aboard. As the train rumbled down a shorthill between Prospect Park and Ebbets Field in the very heart of Brooklyn theunthinkable happened the motorman lost control and the train left the tracksas it curved into a tunnel at the foot of the hill. The ensuing disaster knownever since as the Malbone Street Wreck took the lives of almost a hundredpeople and stands as the worst masstransit accident in U.S. history.Unlike the Titanic disaster however the Malbone Street Wreck has receivedscant attention from scholars and historians over the years. As is so often thecase popular accounts of the tragedy have managed to enshrine as dogma thingsthat are absolutely untrue.Now Fordham University Press is proud to present Brian Cudahys longawaitedaccount of the Malbone Street Wreck a book that recounts the events leading upto the disaster describes the fateful train trip from its beginning to itsterrible end and reviews efforts conducted after the tragedy to fix blame andestablish liability.Could the Malbone Street Wreck have been avoided? Clearly yes is Cudahysanswer. Had any number of factors not combined in precisely the way that theydid the fivecar train might well have continued its journey to Brighton Beachin a completely uneventful manner.But they did happen exactly as they happened and that is why The MalboneStreet Wreck makes such arresting reading. Could another Malbone Street Wreckhappen at some future time in New York or on any other U.S.masstransitsystem? Transit professionals will have to answer this question after they readCudahys account of how and why November 1 1918 has become such an importantday in transportation history. «
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