SCALDED TO DEATH BY THE STEAM ...

SCALDED TO DEATH BY THE STEAM by Katie Letcher Lyle (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill: $12.95; 213 pp.). Anyone who has ever thrilled to the high, lonesome sound of classic country dirges about dire and dreadful train wrecks will need no encouraging where this book is concerned. Author Lyle, through diligent research in both archives and interviews, has done no less than provide the unvarnished truth about 26 wrecks--famous ones such as the Old 97 (above) and lesser-known catastrophes like The Wreck Between New Hope and Gethsemane--that were dreadful enough to inspire popular songs. A splendid record, complete with words, music, photographs, maps and even newspaper clippings, of a time when the death of fewer than a dozen could still galvanize the nation.