Preface  "'Come out and look at the Eastland,' LeBeau came in yelling."           And many people did look, and many never forgot that monumental image. Yet, after the wreck was towed away it sailed out of our civic memory. The public outcry quieted, the angry committees disbanded and promised memorials were never built. Today the rush hour crowds thunder across the wooden planks of Clark Street bridge unable to see the small plaque down on the south bank. This book adds to Eastland lore with long lost data on the human story:  the toil of the unsung prophets of the disaster, the protracted suffering of the survivors, the role of  black Americans in the story, and the strange quiet of the news presses after the removal of the wreck.. This book has many previously unpublished photos, and their captions of the scene allow the book to be used as a modern riverside guide.  This book is unique in presenting a list of survivors.   Most of all, the author has striven for a non-technical telling of this complex story. And after years of study, he has no fixed opinion of the cause of the disaster. But, here are the facts. What does the reader think really sank Chicago's disaster ship? Now, look at the Eastland. Here are the human stories and the grim photographs of the crushed and  the burned and the drowned. These pages are respectfully offered as an Eastland memorial.