UpStairs Lounge was a gay bar located on Iberville Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. The club was located on the second floor of a three-story building. The people inside the club at the time of the attack were members from the Metropolitain Community Church. The MCC held services there sometimes, but did use the club as a meeting place afterwards as well. The MCC had been targeted before, losing both their buildings in Nashville and Los Angelas to arson attacks. (There is no hate like "Christian" love.) This arson attack occurred on June 24, 1973. Firefighters found themselves blocked by traffic as patrons inside the club burned to death after becoming trapped on the second floor. The fire burned for sixteen minutes before firefighters were able to get the blaze under control. Twenty-eight people died at the club, another died on the way to the hospital, and another eighteen were injured significantly. This book covers the crime, the victims, and the (disappointing) investigation.

I would like to note that many area churches refused to hold any type of funeral or memorial service to the people who died because they are hateful, homophobic jackasses. I have never seen a bigger group of hateful people than those who claim to be Christians. They are so happy to shove their beliefs down everyone else's throat and commit cultural genocide with their missionaries, but FORGET living by their own rules and being a kind helpful neighbor to those who are grieving. I am not a member of the LGBTQ community, but I am a member of civilized society and to treat people who died in a horrific way like this and their families and friends who are hurting inexpressibly with this loss is about scummy as scummy can get. For those people whining about how June is Pride month......THIS IS WHY THERE IS ONE. People should not be murdered because of their sexual orientation or their relationships with other people. People should not react with such disgusting behavior when people are hurting.

At any rate, I had never heard of this event. I came across this book in the disaster section of my local bookstore, though I think it should have been in the crime section. Overall, this book was informative, and I learned a lot. It was also enraging. If you plan to read it and you are a member of civilized society, prepare to be enraged.