The American Way chronicles the story of one of the largest industrial actions of the early 20th Century utilizing the Triangle Factory Fire tragedy , as an inciting incident . The fire , the worst workplace disaster in the history of New York City until September 11 . As the fire rages and workers are dying by the scores three members of the labor union , the Industrial Workers of the World , or I.W.W. , Joe Ettor , Arturo Giovannitti and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn witness the aftermath and vow to devote their efforts to the unskilled foreign labor being widely exploited throughout the country . At about the same time , with no knowledge of the growing instability of the U.S. labor situation , Michael Casaburi , a former Sicilian policeman who has lost his wife in a natural catastrophe , contemplates travel to the U.S. to seek work and a new life . Upon seeing a propaganda poster distributed by The American Woolen Company and boasting the fantastic life style available to him by working for the A.W.C. , Michael decides to spend the last remnants of his savings in the trans-Atlantic voyage to New York to rebuild his life . Through a distant acquaintance of the family , after reaching Lawrence , Massachusetts , Michael secures a job and sends to Sicily for his sixteen-year-old daughter , Anna . Michael only becomes aware of the possibility of a strike after he has sent for Anna and has no idea how deep the rift between the tens of thousands of abused factory workers and the mill owners actually is . Run by William Wood and owned by J.P. Morgan one of the three richest men in the world , the battle has become one of denial by the bosses and constant struggle by the workers . Standing against the mass of workers is a racially motivated police force , the State Militia , Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor , the U. S. Secretary of Labor and a hostile U.S. President , William Howard Taft . Due to the fact that the mass of workers is divided along ethnic lines and less than ten per cent of them speak English , Wood and the other mill owners believe them to be " un-organizeable " . However unbeknownst to Wood the I.W.W. has sent a representative to help organize the workers . When the situation escalates Mayor Scanlon , siding with the mill owners , advises Wood contact Governor Foss . Foss , having been put in power largely by Wood 's and other industrialist 's money , agrees to help and calls out the militia who illegally declare a state of martial law . Strongly suspecting the impending violence based on the police and militia 's past attitudes and actions the women mill workers gather the children and with help from New York press find temporary homes for the children in New York City until the strike is over . An incident at the train station leads to worldwide sympathy for the strikers who ultimately triumph
Triangle Factory Fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The American Way (novel)