Author Description

To mark the 30th anniversary of the Hyatt skywalk tragedy, Kansas City Star Books presents "The Last Dance: The Skywalks Disaster and a City Changed." This hardcover book honors the memories of the 114 who lost their lives in the collapse at the Hyatt Regency on July 17, 1981, and the countless others injured and touched by the event. The collapse remains the single biggest structural failure in the United States. The book examines not just the collapse itself but why it occurred, the many lessons learned from it by the architectural, engineering and first-responder communities, and updates the impact it continues to have on the victims, their families, and those who rushed to help that night. All royalties from the book's sales go to the Skywalk Memorial Foundation to help fund a permanent memorial of the event. The memorial site has been chosen - just north of Children's Mercy Hospital - and the Foundation is in its final stages of funding