Title: Fire on the water /
Authors: MacGregor, Scott, 1953-; Dumm, Gary; Buhle, Paul, 1944-
Year: 2020
Subjects: Construction workers Accidents Ohio Cleveland Comic books, strips, etc.; Construction industry Accidents Ohio Cleveland Comic books, strips, etc.; Tunnels Ohio Cleveland Design and construction Comic books, strips, etc.; Underground construction Comic books, strips, etc.; Structural failures Comic books, strips, etc.; Disasters; Accidents, Occupational; Construction Industry; Racism; Social Class; History, 20th Century; Construction industry Accidents; Structural failures; Tunnels Design and construction; Underground construction; Ohio; Ohio Cleveland
Abstract: A novel based on a true tale of heroism and invention in the tunnels beneath Lake Erie in 1916. This original graphic novel imagines the lives of blue-collar workers involved in the real-life Lake Erie tunnel disaster of 1916 in Cleveland. Author Scott MacGregor and illustrator Gary Dumm tell the intersecting stories of a brilliant African American inventor, Ben Beltran (based on the real-life Garrett Morgan, Sr.), desperate immigrants tunneling beneath Lake Erie, and corrupt overseers who risk countless lives for profit. As historical fiction, Fire on the Water sheds light not only on one of America's earliest man-made ecological disasters but also on racism and the economic disparity between classes in the Midwest at the turn of the century.