Bath Massacre, New Edition
America's First School Bombing
New Edition, Updated and Expanded Edition
Description
The new edition of this Michigan Notable Book includes a new introduction and stories from interviews with two additional survivors, Myrna (Gates) Coulter and Ralph Witchell, which took place after the first edition was published in 2009.
On May 18, 1927, the small town of Bath, Michigan, was forever changed when Andrew Kehoe set off a cache of explosives concealed in the basement of the local school. Thirty-eight children and six adults were dead, among them Kehoe, who had literally blown himself to bits by setting off a 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 handcart, her skull crushed. With seemingly endless stories of school violence and suicide bombers filling today's headlines, Bath Massacre serves as a reminder that terrorism and large-scale murder are nothing new.
A native of Chicago, Arnie Bernstein is the author of The Hoofs and Guns of the Storm: Chicago's Civil War Connections and Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100 Years of Chicago and the Movies. He is the winner of a Puffin Foundation grant and Midwest Regional History Publishing honors.
Reviews
"One can't read this book without being deeply moved by the pain and horror suffered by the children and their parents, or the almost superhuman effort by the community to rescue entombed children. The author has done a remarkable job of letting the people of Bath tell of their tragedy. It gives the book an immediacy and a direct emotional connection with Sandy Hook, Columbine, Virginia Tech and all the recent and horrible school shootings. The book also touchingly relates the lengths the town went to memorialize those lost in the senseless mass murder."
- Tom Powers
—Michigan in Books
News, Reviews, Interviews
Read: Article in Lansing City Pulse | 05/19/2022
Read: Author Interview in The Beverly Review | 05/03/2022
Read: Author Spotlight by The Authors Guild | 03/15/2022
Read: Author Interview in Daily Southtown | 03/04/2022
Listen: Author Interview on Season 3, Episode 8 of the #badasswriters Podcast | 08/02/2022
Listen: Author Interview on Tales of Southwest Michigan's Past podcast | 05/15/2022
Listen: Author Interview on Episode 240 of Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast | 04/19/2022
Listen: The original Author Interview on Episode 26 of the Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast | 2017
Listen: Author Interview on The Writer Shed podcast | 03/15/2022
Listen: Author Interview on WGN Radio with Rick Kogan | 02/13/2022
Listen: Author Interview on True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers podcast | 02/10/2022