{"product_id":"skywalks-robert-gordons-untold-story-of-hallmarks-kansas-city-disaster-hardcover","title":"Skywalks: Robert Gordon's Untold Story of Hallmark's Kansas City Disaster - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eR. Eli Paul\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1981 the suspended walkways--or \"skywalks\"--in Kansas City's Hyatt Regency hotel fell and killed 114 people. It was the deadliest building collapse in the United States until the fall of New York's Twin Towers on 9\/11. In \u003ci\u003eSkywalks\u003c\/i\u003e R. Eli Paul follows the actions of attorney Robert Gordon, an insider to the bitter litigation that followed. Representing the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against those who designed, built, inspected, owned, and managed the hotel, Gordon was tenacious in uncovering damaging facts. He wanted his findings presented before a jury, where his legal team would assign blame from underlings to corporate higher-ups, while securing a massive judgment in his clients' favor. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e But when the case was settled out from under Gordon, he turned to another medium to get the truth out: a quixotic book project that consumed the rest of his life. For a decade the irascible attorney-turned-writer churned through a succession of high-powered literary agents, talented ghost writers, and New York trade publishers. Gordon's resistance to collaboration and compromise resulted in a controversial but unpublishable manuscript, \"House of Cards,\" finished long after the public's interest had waned. His conclusions, still explosive but never receiving their proper attention, laid the blame for the disaster largely at the feet of the hotel's owner and Kansas City's most visible and powerful corporation, Hallmark Cards Inc. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Gordon gave up his lucrative law practice and lived the rest of his life as a virtual recluse in his mansion in Mission Hills, Kansas. David had fought Goliath, and to his despair, Goliath had won. Gordon died in 2008 without ever seeing his book published or the full truth told. \u003ci\u003eSkywalks\u003c\/i\u003e is a long-overdue corrective, built on a foundation of untapped historical materials Gordon compiled, as well as his own unpublished writings.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eR. Eli Paul\u003c\/b\u003e is the former director of the Missouri Valley Special Collections at the Kansas City Public Library. His public history career has spanned four decades, including previous tenures at the Nebraska State Historical Society, Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, and the National World War I Museum. Paul is the author or editor of several books, including \u003ci\u003eEyewitness at Wounded Knee\u003c\/i\u003e (Nebraska, 2016), \u003ci\u003eAutobiography of Red Cloud: War Leader of the Oglalas\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eBlue Water Creek and the First Sioux War, 1854-1856\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 376\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.18 x 8.9 x 5.83 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 01, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51978453352749,"sku":"9781496233134","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/cDlsVHd2bllTcXJja01nSnA3alVqQT09.webp?v=1775805247","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/skywalks-robert-gordons-untold-story-of-hallmarks-kansas-city-disaster-hardcover","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}