What do you think?
Rate this book
Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing
On May 18, 1927, in a horrific conflagration of dynamite and blood, a madman forever changed a small Michigan town. Bath Massacre takes readers back more than eighty years to that fateful day, when Andrew Kehoe set off a cache of explosives concealed in the basement of the local school, killing thirty-eight children and six adults. Among the dead was Kehoe, who literally blew himself to bits by setting off a concealed dynamite charge in his car. The next day, on Kehoe's farm, what was left of his wife---burned beyond recognition after Kehoe set his property and buildings ablaze---was found tied to a hand cart, her skull crushed and objects placed with macabre ritualism next to her body.
With the horrors of Oklahoma City and 9/11 still fresh in Americans' minds, the seemingly endless stories of school violence epitomized by the Columbine shooting, and suicide bombers around the globe, Bath Massacre resonates powerfully for modern readers and reminds us that terrorism and murder on a large scale are nothing new. Bolstered by cooperation with survivors and their descendents, the book includes interviews with the people who lived through the horror of that day.
200 pages, Paperback
First published March 16, 2009
38 people are currently reading
917 people want to read
About the author
Arnie Bernstein
11 books23 followersI'm a nonfiction writer based in Chicago. My new book Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German American Bund tells the true story of a pro-Nazi movement that swept the United States in the 1930s. Swastika Nation is now available from St. Martin's Press. It's earned great reviews from The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Publishers Weekly, and many other publications.
I've also author of Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing, the true story of the first mass murder at an American public school on May 18,1927 in the small Michigan town of Bath. The book is published by University of Michigan Press. Bath Massacre was honored as a Notable Book by the State Library of Michigan.
Earlier work includes Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100 Years of Chicago and the Movies, The Hoofs and Guns of the Storm: Chicago's Civil War Connections, and "The Movies Are" Carl Sandburg's Film Reviews & Essays, 1920-1927.
When it comes to philosophy, I follow the words of notable sage Groucho Marx: “I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book.”
I've also author of Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing, the true story of the first mass murder at an American public school on May 18,1927 in the small Michigan town of Bath. The book is published by University of Michigan Press. Bath Massacre was honored as a Notable Book by the State Library of Michigan.
Earlier work includes Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100 Years of Chicago and the Movies, The Hoofs and Guns of the Storm: Chicago's Civil War Connections, and "The Movies Are" Carl Sandburg's Film Reviews & Essays, 1920-1927.
When it comes to philosophy, I follow the words of notable sage Groucho Marx: “I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book.”
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
January 12, 2025
Looking back at my educational experience in the United States, I was blessed to never worry about someone opening fire at my school. Not that people weren’t capable of it, or some of the same catalysts didn’t exist back then; it just didn’t happen in the 80s and early 90s the way it does today.
If I were to ask you what attack on a school in the United States caused the highest number of casualties, you might think of Virginia Tech (I lived 15 minutes from there when that happened), you might think of Columbine, or Sandy Hook, Uvalde, or Parkland. It was not any of those. Instead, that unfortunate casualty record belongs to the Township of Bath in the great State of Michigan.
Notice that I used the term school “attack” instead of a school shooting, and that is because the school massacre in Bath was perpetrated with dynamite. Yes, you read that right. Dynamite was detonated underneath the Bath Consolidated School (Grades K-12) in 1927, killing 38 small children and 6 adults. 58 people were injured, and many of those injuries were life-altering, including amputations and paralysis.
The person responsible for the killing of innocents that day wasn’t a student. The person who unleashed the devastation was the Bath Township School Board Treasurer, a man named Andrew Kehoe. Kehoe blew himself up, along with the school superintendent, just after the initial explosion.
Whatever reason Kehoe had for the attack on Bath Consolidated School, he took to hell with him. He left no manifesto, only a handwritten sign that he wired to the fence at his farm that read, “Criminals are made, not born.”
The reality is, and this won’t be politically correct, Kehoe was a stone-cold nut. I will let you read the book to see just how much of a nut he was. He spent weeks hiding dynamite and an explosive called pyrotol under the school floors. In the North Wing of the school, the force of the explosion blew some children out of the windows as the entire wing collapsed upon itself like a pancake.
In this book, Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing, the author, Arnie Bernstein, doesn’t just introduce and flesh out Kehoe; he does the same with the victims of this tragedy in a poignant way. He describes the children with as much detail as possible from what records still exist, and it is heartbreaking.
This massacre is not mentioned often, and the reason it likely made a premature exit from the news, and thus a premature exit from memories, is the fact that Charles Lindbergh made the first transatlantic flight shortly after, and it riveted the world and dominated headlines.
This book goes a long way toward bringing this piece of history into better focus. Before reading this, I knew the largest school massacre was in Bath, MI, and that it was dynamite that caused the carnage. I couldn’t have told you anything beyond that because I simply had no idea.
One of the most basic bars I set for any book on history is whether it teaches me anything I didn’t already know. This book went well beyond that and left me with, HOW did I not know?
If I were to ask you what attack on a school in the United States caused the highest number of casualties, you might think of Virginia Tech (I lived 15 minutes from there when that happened), you might think of Columbine, or Sandy Hook, Uvalde, or Parkland. It was not any of those. Instead, that unfortunate casualty record belongs to the Township of Bath in the great State of Michigan.
Notice that I used the term school “attack” instead of a school shooting, and that is because the school massacre in Bath was perpetrated with dynamite. Yes, you read that right. Dynamite was detonated underneath the Bath Consolidated School (Grades K-12) in 1927, killing 38 small children and 6 adults. 58 people were injured, and many of those injuries were life-altering, including amputations and paralysis.
The person responsible for the killing of innocents that day wasn’t a student. The person who unleashed the devastation was the Bath Township School Board Treasurer, a man named Andrew Kehoe. Kehoe blew himself up, along with the school superintendent, just after the initial explosion.
Whatever reason Kehoe had for the attack on Bath Consolidated School, he took to hell with him. He left no manifesto, only a handwritten sign that he wired to the fence at his farm that read, “Criminals are made, not born.”
The reality is, and this won’t be politically correct, Kehoe was a stone-cold nut. I will let you read the book to see just how much of a nut he was. He spent weeks hiding dynamite and an explosive called pyrotol under the school floors. In the North Wing of the school, the force of the explosion blew some children out of the windows as the entire wing collapsed upon itself like a pancake.
In this book, Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing, the author, Arnie Bernstein, doesn’t just introduce and flesh out Kehoe; he does the same with the victims of this tragedy in a poignant way. He describes the children with as much detail as possible from what records still exist, and it is heartbreaking.
This massacre is not mentioned often, and the reason it likely made a premature exit from the news, and thus a premature exit from memories, is the fact that Charles Lindbergh made the first transatlantic flight shortly after, and it riveted the world and dominated headlines.
This book goes a long way toward bringing this piece of history into better focus. Before reading this, I knew the largest school massacre was in Bath, MI, and that it was dynamite that caused the carnage. I couldn’t have told you anything beyond that because I simply had no idea.
One of the most basic bars I set for any book on history is whether it teaches me anything I didn’t already know. This book went well beyond that and left me with, HOW did I not know?
September 29, 2009
This book is an incredible account of the first school bombing in our nation's history. Skillfully laying the groundwork of the events in the months and years leading up to this disaster, the author leads us through this all but forgotten tragedy, bringing it back to life with an almost minute by minute account of the the day of the disaster.
The reader is introduced to the children and families of victims and survivors both, and is given an almost chilling look into the mind of Andrew Kehoe and what possibly triggered this event.
This book had me riveted from beginning to end and I couldn't recommend it more. This fascinating account is a story that needed to be retold so that it's not forgotten. Loaded with first hand accounts, the reader has a front row seat to the shocking, numbing horror of that day, and can almost smell the dust and smoke and hear the screams of children and parents alike. While the author brings the reader into the horror if the day, he manages to keep it from becoming sensationalistic tabloid style writing. Kudo's to Bernstein for telling the complete story while maintaining respect for both the living and the dead of this event.
The reader is introduced to the children and families of victims and survivors both, and is given an almost chilling look into the mind of Andrew Kehoe and what possibly triggered this event.
This book had me riveted from beginning to end and I couldn't recommend it more. This fascinating account is a story that needed to be retold so that it's not forgotten. Loaded with first hand accounts, the reader has a front row seat to the shocking, numbing horror of that day, and can almost smell the dust and smoke and hear the screams of children and parents alike. While the author brings the reader into the horror if the day, he manages to keep it from becoming sensationalistic tabloid style writing. Kudo's to Bernstein for telling the complete story while maintaining respect for both the living and the dead of this event.
April 1, 2019
Early in Bath Massacre, author Arnie Bernstein mentions William Faulkner's famous quote "the past isn't dead. It isn't even past." Before there was Columbine, before Sandy Hook, before Parkdale, there was Bath, Michigan.
On May 18, 1927, a massive explosion rocked the Bath Consolidated School, destroying an entire wing of the school. At the same time, a farm and property belonging to a former school board member erupted in flames. Minutes later, that same board member drove up to the school in his truck, which was packed with dynamite and scrap metal, called over School Superintendent Emory Huyck, and blew himself up, taking the superintendent and others with him. When the explosions stopped, thirty-eight children and five adults were dead.
An examination of both school and farm would reveal a diabolical plan carried out in secret over many months. Each had been wired for total destruction and maximum damage; it was but for the grace of God that most of the explosives under the school were not triggered in the blast. The murderer's wife, who had been chronically ill, was found dead on the farm, burned so terribly that a cause of death could not be determined.
Using archival photographs and contemporary accounts, as well as interviews with a few survivors, Bernstein recreates the Bath of 1927, a farming community in need of a better school but struggling to pay for it. He documents the shock and the bravery of Bath residents, rescuing children from the rubble while trying to comprehend something entirely foreign to their life experiences. He documents the loss, grace and dignity of families who mourned lost children but were thoughtful enough to publicly thank their neighbors, while being inundated by thousands of 'tourists' who poured into town, taking pictures, souvenirs, and even asking to see the dead bodies.
As with other tragedies of this type, there is a need to know why, though in this case the truth died with the murderer's suicide. He had been on the school board, had objected to numerous expenditures as treasurer, and had objected to the increase in property taxes needed to fund the school. He had an intense dislike of the school superintendent he would later murder. He had been rejected for local office. His wife was chronically ill. He had suffered a traumatic brain injury in his younger days that left him in a two-week coma. What combination of these things led him to conclude that his only course of action was to commit such heinous deeds will never be known, and will never soothe, justify, or explain.
The book is not important for who the murderer was; it is for the children, and the teachers, and the superintendent, and the town. It is for the memories of Vivian, Percy and Iola Hart, who never grew past 9, 10, and 12 respectively. It is for Blanche Harte and Hazel Weatherby, teachers who died trying to protect their young charges; Weatherby was found holding two dead students in her arms. It is for survivors like Josephine Cushman, who spent the next eight decades making yearly pilgrimages to her younger brother Ralph's grave, forever frozen in time as a precocious boy of seven. It is for the town that rebuilt the school where the old one stood, and remembers those lost to this day with a memorial park. It is for the redeeming grace of innocence lost, the bravery and sacrifice of ordinary citizens turned heroes, and to remind us that wherever there is hate there is love, compassion, and humanity.
On May 18, 1927, a massive explosion rocked the Bath Consolidated School, destroying an entire wing of the school. At the same time, a farm and property belonging to a former school board member erupted in flames. Minutes later, that same board member drove up to the school in his truck, which was packed with dynamite and scrap metal, called over School Superintendent Emory Huyck, and blew himself up, taking the superintendent and others with him. When the explosions stopped, thirty-eight children and five adults were dead.
An examination of both school and farm would reveal a diabolical plan carried out in secret over many months. Each had been wired for total destruction and maximum damage; it was but for the grace of God that most of the explosives under the school were not triggered in the blast. The murderer's wife, who had been chronically ill, was found dead on the farm, burned so terribly that a cause of death could not be determined.
Using archival photographs and contemporary accounts, as well as interviews with a few survivors, Bernstein recreates the Bath of 1927, a farming community in need of a better school but struggling to pay for it. He documents the shock and the bravery of Bath residents, rescuing children from the rubble while trying to comprehend something entirely foreign to their life experiences. He documents the loss, grace and dignity of families who mourned lost children but were thoughtful enough to publicly thank their neighbors, while being inundated by thousands of 'tourists' who poured into town, taking pictures, souvenirs, and even asking to see the dead bodies.
As with other tragedies of this type, there is a need to know why, though in this case the truth died with the murderer's suicide. He had been on the school board, had objected to numerous expenditures as treasurer, and had objected to the increase in property taxes needed to fund the school. He had an intense dislike of the school superintendent he would later murder. He had been rejected for local office. His wife was chronically ill. He had suffered a traumatic brain injury in his younger days that left him in a two-week coma. What combination of these things led him to conclude that his only course of action was to commit such heinous deeds will never be known, and will never soothe, justify, or explain.
The book is not important for who the murderer was; it is for the children, and the teachers, and the superintendent, and the town. It is for the memories of Vivian, Percy and Iola Hart, who never grew past 9, 10, and 12 respectively. It is for Blanche Harte and Hazel Weatherby, teachers who died trying to protect their young charges; Weatherby was found holding two dead students in her arms. It is for survivors like Josephine Cushman, who spent the next eight decades making yearly pilgrimages to her younger brother Ralph's grave, forever frozen in time as a precocious boy of seven. It is for the town that rebuilt the school where the old one stood, and remembers those lost to this day with a memorial park. It is for the redeeming grace of innocence lost, the bravery and sacrifice of ordinary citizens turned heroes, and to remind us that wherever there is hate there is love, compassion, and humanity.
January 14, 2022
At some parts the book seemed to be moving slow or included information that felt like it was added just because it was available. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and definitely gave me a lot of information about a tragedy that I had never heard of until I came across the book.
October 29, 2023
So heartbreaking
May 21, 2019
Our April book club pick (2019).
One of our members is originally from Michigan and had a neighbor who survived this massacre.
For us, this book sparked a discussion on social isolation and mass murder. We feel this story resonates in our tragic culture of school shootings.
One of our members is originally from Michigan and had a neighbor who survived this massacre.
For us, this book sparked a discussion on social isolation and mass murder. We feel this story resonates in our tragic culture of school shootings.
February 23, 2019
I have put off reviewing this one because this book hurt so much.
The Bath Massacre is often compared to modern day school shootings but there can be no comparison. This premeditated attack on a school stands alone in both its cruelty and its results. The Bath Massacre stands alone.
In May of 1927, Andrew Kehoe, a farmer and school board member who did odd jobs for the school, detonated a bomb killing 37 children and adults. He had spent months wiring the bomb through the school, and many bomb parts did not go off, so the death toll could have been much higher.
Kehoe was a grown, sane man in his forties. He bombed the school because he was going to lose his farm, and he blamed the school bond tax for this. He also killed his wife and wired his farm to explode.
Modern school shootings, even those with a sadly high death count, do not compare. Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook were all deadly because modern guns make it easy to be lethal. And all those killings were done by children on children, under the age of 21 where the brain is fully grown. These impulsive or mildly-planned attacks are often compared to Bath Massacre but there is nothing in modern history I see to compare.
This book details Kehoe’s life and actions and the Bath Massacre incident without being sensational or gory. Well done.
The Bath Massacre is often compared to modern day school shootings but there can be no comparison. This premeditated attack on a school stands alone in both its cruelty and its results. The Bath Massacre stands alone.
In May of 1927, Andrew Kehoe, a farmer and school board member who did odd jobs for the school, detonated a bomb killing 37 children and adults. He had spent months wiring the bomb through the school, and many bomb parts did not go off, so the death toll could have been much higher.
Kehoe was a grown, sane man in his forties. He bombed the school because he was going to lose his farm, and he blamed the school bond tax for this. He also killed his wife and wired his farm to explode.
Modern school shootings, even those with a sadly high death count, do not compare. Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook were all deadly because modern guns make it easy to be lethal. And all those killings were done by children on children, under the age of 21 where the brain is fully grown. These impulsive or mildly-planned attacks are often compared to Bath Massacre but there is nothing in modern history I see to compare.
This book details Kehoe’s life and actions and the Bath Massacre incident without being sensational or gory. Well done.
Read
December 5, 2008On May 18, 1927, in a horrific conflagration of dynamite and blood, a madman forever changed a small Michigan town. Bath Massacre takes readers back more than eighty years to that fateful day, when Andrew Kehoe set off a cache of explosives concealed in the basement of the local school, killing thirty-eight children and six adults. Among the dead was Kehoe, who literally blew himself to bits by setting off a concealed dynamite charge in his car. The next day, on Kehoe's farm, what was left of his wife—burned beyond recognition after Kehoe set his property and buildings ablaze—was found tied to a hand cart, her skull crushed and objects placed with macabre ritualism next to her body.
With the horrors of Oklahoma City and 9/11 still fresh in Americans' minds, the seemingly endless stories of school violence epitomized by the Columbine shooting, and suicide bombers around the globe, Bath Massacre resonates powerfully for modern readers and reminds us that terrorism and murder on a large scale are nothing new. Bolstered by cooperation with survivors and their descendents, the book includes interviews with the people who lived through the horror of that day.
With the horrors of Oklahoma City and 9/11 still fresh in Americans' minds, the seemingly endless stories of school violence epitomized by the Columbine shooting, and suicide bombers around the globe, Bath Massacre resonates powerfully for modern readers and reminds us that terrorism and murder on a large scale are nothing new. Bolstered by cooperation with survivors and their descendents, the book includes interviews with the people who lived through the horror of that day.
February 22, 2010
I've read the inquest proceedings, Ellsworth's book, and Mayday: History of a Village Holocaust. This is best of all of them. The author makes three important contributions: correcting the mythology surrounding Andrew Kehoe, sifting through the newspapers to identify "new" events, and re-interviewing the remaining survivors.
The notes are good but there's no index(!). If anything, I would have liked the author to speculate just a little bit more. (The single thing that Mayday did better was the chapter on the analysis of Kehoe's origins.)
These (minor) problems aside, the book is extremely well-written. It strikes the right balance when handling details that could have been gory or melodramatic. The author also does a great job juggling the numerous characters, multiple locations, and a complex timeline.
The notes are good but there's no index(!). If anything, I would have liked the author to speculate just a little bit more. (The single thing that Mayday did better was the chapter on the analysis of Kehoe's origins.)
These (minor) problems aside, the book is extremely well-written. It strikes the right balance when handling details that could have been gory or melodramatic. The author also does a great job juggling the numerous characters, multiple locations, and a complex timeline.
January 30, 2011
Among other firsts, Michigan was the site of the first bombing of a school. In 1927, a member of the school board in the small town of Bath, Michigan rigged hundreds of pounds of dynamite to blow up a school full of children. After the initial explosion, the killer pulled up in a truck full of scrapnel and blew it up, injuring the rescuers and tearing himself apart. Thirty-eight children and six adults died. Scores more were mutilated for life.
The book is exhaustively researched, compiling every recollection anyone ever had about the day of the bombing. The only reason I give it so few stars is that this is not the sort of thing I read and I found myself skimming pages of wearisome detail. If you enjoy true crime, you'd probably rate it higher.
It did, however, make me want to journey to Bath to see the park that memorializes the victims.
The book is exhaustively researched, compiling every recollection anyone ever had about the day of the bombing. The only reason I give it so few stars is that this is not the sort of thing I read and I found myself skimming pages of wearisome detail. If you enjoy true crime, you'd probably rate it higher.
It did, however, make me want to journey to Bath to see the park that memorializes the victims.
January 7, 2013
This is one of the most well researched true crime novels I have ever read. So often the telling of this story brought me to tears. Tragically, these types of crimes still continue today and they are mentioned periodically throughout this novel in comparison. Well written and detailed to a fault, you are placed squarely in the middle of the bombing of Bath school. You can almost smell the smoke. It's so important that we don't forget these atrocities and that we learn from our history. While in the middle of it no one saw it coming, after the fact the warning signs are evident. In the novel, "If Only I Had Known" by Dr. William H. Dodson, the telltale signs are identified so that we might prevent these types of crimes in the future.
October 8, 2014
An excellent and compassionate re-telling of the events surrounding the 1927 school bombing in Bath Michigan. As I now live in Bath Township, I have visited the Bath School Museum and the memorial at Couzens Park. It is not unusual to still hear residents refer to this tragic event. This book made the events of that horrific day more real to me with its focus on telling the stories of individuals who were killed or injured and survived. Truly heart wrenching at several points, I finished the book in tears for those who perished, those who survived, and those who remember.
November 12, 2018
Bernstein investigates the 1927 bombing of the Bath Consolidated School, and in doing so, delivers an important and interesting inquiry into the man who rigged the bombs.
The book is well researched and smoothly written. It is also surprisingly timely.
Highly recommended for historical nonfiction readers as well as anyone studying the motivations of mass murderers.
The book is well researched and smoothly written. It is also surprisingly timely.
Highly recommended for historical nonfiction readers as well as anyone studying the motivations of mass murderers.
December 8, 2018
Simple, direct and well-written
An interesting and moving account of a little remembered tragedy. Well researched, this book gives us a good record of the background of the perpetrator and the events that shattered the peace of this small Midwestern town and how the people recovered, healed and remembered the tragedy.
An interesting and moving account of a little remembered tragedy. Well researched, this book gives us a good record of the background of the perpetrator and the events that shattered the peace of this small Midwestern town and how the people recovered, healed and remembered the tragedy.
November 28, 2025
"Criminals are made, Not born" to which I say as a former criminal myself; not true. The Bath school bombing was an atrocity committed by a monster who quite possibly had a ploy in the death of his stepmother as well. Anyone who can target women and children senselessly are cowards and vile. Losing your farm to a foreclosure because of a local ordinance tax is no excuse to murder tens of schoolchildren and facility. It's been just about over a century since this act was committed.
Although I feel there was more to Kehoe's financial struggles when he exploderated the Bath School. This is the one weak part of the book and I think that needed to be more researched. The work that was put into this book was substantial and didn't make for too long a read. It can be finished in one or two days. After doing online research I now know of a museum to be built in Bath next year (2026).
My main take away from this book, I do feel that although humanity has made some process in regards to dignity. The victims of his incident were observed by the surrounding region as specimens of a tragedy and a crime exhibit rather than people who have been severely physically and emotionally wounded. a crime scene is not a spectacle and this was treated as such by many. This book came out right as I graduated high school. So it's not too outdated.
I'm gonna say this, What I learned after reading this book is that unless we as individuals are directly or by second hand involved in harrowing events such incidents in Bath, Mi or Littleton, CO or whether it be in Isle Vista, CA. It's important to steer in your own lane and if you are heaven forbid have a relationship with the perpetrator good to keep low. You'll hear about this guy Sydney Howell in the book. It doesn't end too well for him.
So without further ruining the ending's specifics. This book is valuable to those who have in my opinion been through a terrorist attack and need closure. The Psychopath does not feel any empathy what-so-ever and can be your next door neighbor who ironically works on the school board. You are not alone!
Although I feel there was more to Kehoe's financial struggles when he exploderated the Bath School. This is the one weak part of the book and I think that needed to be more researched. The work that was put into this book was substantial and didn't make for too long a read. It can be finished in one or two days. After doing online research I now know of a museum to be built in Bath next year (2026).
My main take away from this book, I do feel that although humanity has made some process in regards to dignity. The victims of his incident were observed by the surrounding region as specimens of a tragedy and a crime exhibit rather than people who have been severely physically and emotionally wounded. a crime scene is not a spectacle and this was treated as such by many. This book came out right as I graduated high school. So it's not too outdated.
I'm gonna say this, What I learned after reading this book is that unless we as individuals are directly or by second hand involved in harrowing events such incidents in Bath, Mi or Littleton, CO or whether it be in Isle Vista, CA. It's important to steer in your own lane and if you are heaven forbid have a relationship with the perpetrator good to keep low. You'll hear about this guy Sydney Howell in the book. It doesn't end too well for him.
So without further ruining the ending's specifics. This book is valuable to those who have in my opinion been through a terrorist attack and need closure. The Psychopath does not feel any empathy what-so-ever and can be your next door neighbor who ironically works on the school board. You are not alone!
November 25, 2021
All the details of the 1927 school bombing are laid out in this book along with some background information on Andrew Kehoe, the man who systematically planned and carried out the murder of 45 people, 38 of them children.
The facts are here but it’s not the most well written narrative. Sometimes it’s choppy with short, unrelated paragraphs and at times it’s overly dramatic (“Frances struck a match…and the world changed in an instant.” The ‘world’ did not change. Irrelevant information is also peppered here and there, e.g., actors that were popular in the movies at this time, a hawk flying over the Kehoe property.
At other times, dubious claims are made or thoughts/feelings are imbued into people that can’t possibly be substantiated. “It was as though Anna willed her children’s safety.” “Once the officers had her students, Weatherby gave in to death.” The worst case was relating the last conversation Kehoe had with Principal Huyck. Seeing that everyone in that vicinity at the time was blown to bits, there would have been no witnesses to that conversation.
Shortly after the disaster in 1927, a citizen of Bath, M.J. Ellsworth, quickly wrote up a version of the events that transpired and sold them to “tourists.” This author states the booklet was rife with errors but then continually draws from it for this book. Later he describes it as a “fairly accurate account” of the event (there are two copies of the Ellsworth booklet available on Amazon for $321.01 and $325.00). Wikipedia is also cited as a source of information.
All that being said, there is some fascinating information included, like the role the KKK played in blaming the bombing on the Catholic background of Kehoe. And one unconscious boy was treated by giving him sips of whiskey that allegedly brought him out of his coma.
If you are looking for multiple accounts of this tragedy, by all means include this one. If you want to read just one book, read “Maniac” by Harold Schechter.
The facts are here but it’s not the most well written narrative. Sometimes it’s choppy with short, unrelated paragraphs and at times it’s overly dramatic (“Frances struck a match…and the world changed in an instant.” The ‘world’ did not change. Irrelevant information is also peppered here and there, e.g., actors that were popular in the movies at this time, a hawk flying over the Kehoe property.
At other times, dubious claims are made or thoughts/feelings are imbued into people that can’t possibly be substantiated. “It was as though Anna willed her children’s safety.” “Once the officers had her students, Weatherby gave in to death.” The worst case was relating the last conversation Kehoe had with Principal Huyck. Seeing that everyone in that vicinity at the time was blown to bits, there would have been no witnesses to that conversation.
Shortly after the disaster in 1927, a citizen of Bath, M.J. Ellsworth, quickly wrote up a version of the events that transpired and sold them to “tourists.” This author states the booklet was rife with errors but then continually draws from it for this book. Later he describes it as a “fairly accurate account” of the event (there are two copies of the Ellsworth booklet available on Amazon for $321.01 and $325.00). Wikipedia is also cited as a source of information.
All that being said, there is some fascinating information included, like the role the KKK played in blaming the bombing on the Catholic background of Kehoe. And one unconscious boy was treated by giving him sips of whiskey that allegedly brought him out of his coma.
If you are looking for multiple accounts of this tragedy, by all means include this one. If you want to read just one book, read “Maniac” by Harold Schechter.
December 4, 2020
Story of a horrific school bombing in Bath, Michigan in 1927.
Andrew Kehoe, a town eccentric, often tussled with authorities on issues of taxes and the running of the local school. As the school board treasurer, he often came at odds with other school board members as to expenditures. Grievances festered silently, as he slowly plots to get even. He was known for his large purchases of dynamite for removing stumps from his farm acreage, but no one would even imagine how he could have lined the foundation of the school (under cover of night, and over months) with explosives that he would detonate via a timer when the school was filled with children. (36 children and 6 adults, and untold numbers injured) He then set his farmhouse on fire (booby trapping it with explosives), killed his wife, before driving to the school (amid the destruction), and detonating his dynamite filled car to kill not only himself, but his aggrieved enemy from the school board, the Superintendent, Emory Huyck.
The book covers the event and aftermath meticulously and relates the town's difficult recovery, as well as the recovery of the victims and their families. The town struggled with the memory, determined that what happened not be forgotten.
The author juxtaposes the story of this school bombing (the first of its kind), with later incidences of violence wrought by others who felt aggrieved by government and circumstances...Timothy McVeigh of the Murray Building, Oklahoma; Seung-Hui Cho, of the Virginia Tech shootings; The Columbine shootings by outcast students, and on and on.
I had never known of this event until I had seen a reference in an on-line story, causing me to search Wikipedia, and find this book.
Andrew Kehoe, a town eccentric, often tussled with authorities on issues of taxes and the running of the local school. As the school board treasurer, he often came at odds with other school board members as to expenditures. Grievances festered silently, as he slowly plots to get even. He was known for his large purchases of dynamite for removing stumps from his farm acreage, but no one would even imagine how he could have lined the foundation of the school (under cover of night, and over months) with explosives that he would detonate via a timer when the school was filled with children. (36 children and 6 adults, and untold numbers injured) He then set his farmhouse on fire (booby trapping it with explosives), killed his wife, before driving to the school (amid the destruction), and detonating his dynamite filled car to kill not only himself, but his aggrieved enemy from the school board, the Superintendent, Emory Huyck.
The book covers the event and aftermath meticulously and relates the town's difficult recovery, as well as the recovery of the victims and their families. The town struggled with the memory, determined that what happened not be forgotten.
The author juxtaposes the story of this school bombing (the first of its kind), with later incidences of violence wrought by others who felt aggrieved by government and circumstances...Timothy McVeigh of the Murray Building, Oklahoma; Seung-Hui Cho, of the Virginia Tech shootings; The Columbine shootings by outcast students, and on and on.
I had never known of this event until I had seen a reference in an on-line story, causing me to search Wikipedia, and find this book.
February 28, 2018
eight twenty-two pee em, the 27th of february 2018, tuesday evening, full dark outside...warmer today, too, maybe in the 40s, sun shining all the day long, snow banks ten feet tall outside the house and this. just finished, an incredible tale, all the more so for being true...happened. kindle, purchased...tried repeatedly to check it out at the digital library all to no avail...it is listed there, but something was always whacky and wanted to read it so i purchased it and did read it.
this kehoe guy took some time setting up the explosives used, quite some time, acquiring the stuff, taking time to set it all up...a long time. length is never defined in the story...might be there, chart it out, what times, figures are provided. hundreds of pounds of explosives...and not all of it went off, explosives at the school and at his farm.
what isn't...what? known? i'd be curious to know more about kehoe...what he read, what he made of some of the ideas fluent at the time. wasn't that long before or after...things like...what's the word...eugenics. teddy roosevelt, yeah, ole teddy was big into eugenics. that kind of thing. there is some flavor here, some of kehoe's personality...this, that, the other. but it is only surface layers, maybe it can't be known? i dunno, but that's one thing missing, trying to get a handle of the "why" of the matter, though this telling seems satisfied with the...idea...of kehoe not liking taxes, not getting on with the superintendent, that sort of thing...while also kehoe is portrayed as neighborly.
anyway, incredible story, telling. wonder if he's related to the lawyers.
this kehoe guy took some time setting up the explosives used, quite some time, acquiring the stuff, taking time to set it all up...a long time. length is never defined in the story...might be there, chart it out, what times, figures are provided. hundreds of pounds of explosives...and not all of it went off, explosives at the school and at his farm.
what isn't...what? known? i'd be curious to know more about kehoe...what he read, what he made of some of the ideas fluent at the time. wasn't that long before or after...things like...what's the word...eugenics. teddy roosevelt, yeah, ole teddy was big into eugenics. that kind of thing. there is some flavor here, some of kehoe's personality...this, that, the other. but it is only surface layers, maybe it can't be known? i dunno, but that's one thing missing, trying to get a handle of the "why" of the matter, though this telling seems satisfied with the...idea...of kehoe not liking taxes, not getting on with the superintendent, that sort of thing...while also kehoe is portrayed as neighborly.
anyway, incredible story, telling. wonder if he's related to the lawyers.
November 26, 2018
America's first school bombing occurred In Bath, Michigan near the capital of Lansing. It occurred in May of 1927. Bath was a small rural town that had gone to great trouble to provide education and a decent school for its young people. The people were close to each other and knew everyone they thought, but the treasurer of the school board who obviously had anger management issues as we would call them now had a hidden life and a hidden plan. Unknown to all he plotted to blow up the school and did killing a total of 44 people.
This is a look into his character, the town's character and the devastation it caused the community. It is worth the read, but it can be gruesome at times.
This is a look into his character, the town's character and the devastation it caused the community. It is worth the read, but it can be gruesome at times.
December 28, 2020
The painstaking scholarship is admirable and necessary, but occasionally allows the reader too much distance from the humanity of the story. If we are to understand Kehoe at all, we can't lose sight of his humanity. If we are to mourn the loss of the children and adults, they must be more than numbers. In a few instances, Bernstein manages that; more often, the dead are bodies to be stunned by, rather than humans with character and promise. It's possible that Bernstein couldn't obtain permission to reprint photos of the children themselves, the survivors, or the tribute statue, but this would have added to the humanity much more than the Gridley photos of the remains of the Kehoes.
November 10, 2024
Lest we forget, guns are not the only ways children are killed at school. Columbine was not the first school tragedy. This took place 5/18/1927...38 children 6 adults died, 58 others injured perpetrated by a disgruntled school board member.
Our Lady of the Angels school fire in Chicago 12/1/1958, 92 children and 3 nuns died with many more injuries. Likely perpetrated by a 10 year old boy who confessed in 1962, but wasn't charged because the judge didn't think there was enough evidence.
Man's inhumanity to man knows no bounds.
Our Lady of the Angels school fire in Chicago 12/1/1958, 92 children and 3 nuns died with many more injuries. Likely perpetrated by a 10 year old boy who confessed in 1962, but wasn't charged because the judge didn't think there was enough evidence.
Man's inhumanity to man knows no bounds.
April 19, 2021
Great Read
I never knew anything about this bombing, or that it was the first of its kind. It’s tragic what those children, and their families went through. It was a wonderful read though, despite the tragic history of a town rocked to its core by something so Terrible. Children should always feel safe in their school, and as parents we should feel safe sending out children to school and hoping that the Lord keeps a watchful hand over them whenever they are not with us.
I never knew anything about this bombing, or that it was the first of its kind. It’s tragic what those children, and their families went through. It was a wonderful read though, despite the tragic history of a town rocked to its core by something so Terrible. Children should always feel safe in their school, and as parents we should feel safe sending out children to school and hoping that the Lord keeps a watchful hand over them whenever they are not with us.
October 9, 2021
Bath Massacre is such a devastating, important, and profound work. Bernstein covers the tragedy of May 18, 1927 with meticulous attention to detail and with such care as to honor those killed by the bombings. Countless tears for those killed and the grieving, goosebumps for the heroes such as Hazel Weatherby, Mr. Huykt, and all those who helped that day, and pure hatred for Andrew Kehoe. The book is an “easy” read, an extremely hard emotional read, BUT it’s a must read.
5 stars.
5 stars.
February 28, 2023
I started reading this book because I needed a break from George Saunders’ book of short stories, Liberation Day, which is wonderful, but heavy and a bit depressing. I don’t know why I thought a book about a school bombing would be a lighter read? Heh. Either way, this narrative was fairly concise, and to the point aside from a few tidbits of information that seemed sort of thrown in for flowery effect. The story is tragic and some of the details were downright ghastly. I really appreciate the author inserting the insight of the firsthand accounts and perspective in addition to the facts of the event. It was a good quick read. Would recommend.
June 20, 2019
I never heard about this massacre until I picked up this book. I was very moved by the storytelling and I felt as though I was there in Michigan as a sadistic and misanthropic killer plotted to harm innocent children.
More people need to take note of this book. I think we can learn from the profile of this evil killer and hopefully stop other massacres before they happen.
More people need to take note of this book. I think we can learn from the profile of this evil killer and hopefully stop other massacres before they happen.
July 13, 2023
2.5 stars
Well…you sure can’t say this wasn’t well researched. I was almost halfway through the book before I even got up to the year of the bombing! It finally picked up once that started and was really interesting but jumped around a lot. I spent the whole time either skimming over chapters or rereading pages to see if I missed something.
Well…you sure can’t say this wasn’t well researched. I was almost halfway through the book before I even got up to the year of the bombing! It finally picked up once that started and was really interesting but jumped around a lot. I spent the whole time either skimming over chapters or rereading pages to see if I missed something.
November 3, 2018
As a former teacher, I try to stay attune to violence in the academic setting. This book documents a little known tragedy that negates the idea that modern school shootings are the result of violent video games or cyber bullying. School violence has a long, sad history.
August 7, 2019
This was a very good read and gave a lot of information that I didn't know about this tragedy from having spent time in Bath in my teen years. The only thing that would have helped the most would have been a small map of the area around the school that was used during and after the tragedy.
April 8, 2020
WOW!
I had never heard of this piece of Michigan history before it came up as a recommendation from Amazon. This is so well written and the heartache still can be felt these (almost) 93 years later.
I had never heard of this piece of Michigan history before it came up as a recommendation from Amazon. This is so well written and the heartache still can be felt these (almost) 93 years later.
February 8, 2022
Arnie Bernstein has written the definitive work on this unspeakable tragedy. This book, with years of research and caring approach with the families of the community, can help us share and better understand this incomprehensible event.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews