I read this recently, and it is excellent. This is the blurb from his website:

New Book on the Slocum Disaster

Ship Ablaze tells the extraordinary story of the burning of the steamboat General Slocum, the deadliest day in New York City history before September 11. More than 1,000 New Yorkers perished on June 15, 1904 when their steamboat burst into flames on the East River. A panicked and untrained crew, coupled with rotten life preservers and inaccessible life boats, turned a small storage room fire into a human tragedy of immense proportions. News of the horror made headlines around the world and elicited an enormous outpouring of sympathy and donations. Later, as evidence of negligence and corruption on the part of the steamer's owners mounted, sympathy turned to outrage and demands for justice that were never fully met. In Ship Ablaze, historian Edward T. O'Donnell brings to life this gripping tragedy and the wider, compelling story of innocents lost, heroes made, and a city and people that overcame.

My comment: gripping and compelling it is, neither prettying up anything nor wallowing in pathos. I will argue with that last phrase - "a city and people that overcame." No, they never did. They never could.