The Big Burn

Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America

By: Timothy Egan

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

In THE WORST HARD TIME, Timothy Egan put the environmental disaster of the Dust Bowl at the center of a rich history, told through characters he brought to indelible life. Now he performs the same alchemy with the Big Burn, the largest-ever forest fire in America and the tragedy that cemented Teddy Roosevelt's legacy in the land.

On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno that jumped from treetop to ridge as it raged, destroying towns and timber in an eyeblink. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men -- college boys, day-workers, immigrants from mining camps -- to fight the fires. But no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them.

Egan narrates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force, through the eyes of the people who lived it. Equally dramatic, though, is the larger story he tells of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester Gifford Pinchot. Pioneering the notion of conservation, Roosevelt and Pinchot did nothing less than create the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by every citizen. The robber barons fought him and the rangers charged with protecting the reserves, but even as TR's national forests were smoldering they were saved: The heroism shown by those same rangers turned public opinion permanently in favor of the forests, though it changed the mission of the forest service with consequences felt in the fires of today.

THE BIG BURN tells an epic story, paints a moving portrait of the people who lived it, and offers a critical cautionary tale for our time.

A worthy read for any fan of the American outdoors and wilderness

Very well told story of an important era of politics and conservation in American history that doesn’t get enough attention…and a powerful telling of the great fire of 1910 and how it shaped the West. Very worthwhile read

Informative.

This book had been on my read list for a while, wish I had read it sooner. The author didn't just focus on the events of the day of the Big Burn, but even gave a brief, yet informative and interesting, account of the major players backgrounds, including individuals and the political and cultural climate of the time. As a Wildland Firefighter with the US Forest Service, I would recommend this to anyone who has even the slightest interest in land management.

The 1910 Wallace ID fire, and so much more

This tremendous book, another by Timothy Egan, intersperses the description of the massive Fall 2010 fire that nearly destroyed Wallace Idaho with abbreviated biographies of Gifford Pinchot and Teddy Roosevelt and their joint work to establish the US Forest Service. Egan's description of the fire reminded me of Norman MacLean's 'Young Men and Fire' in its descriptions of the escape of forest service workers from the searing heat and suffocating smoke. I have this book listed as one that students in my undergraduate Environmental Science class can review; another is 'The Worst Hard Time,' Egan's description of the Dust Bowl and the sad fate of dozens of midwesterners who suffered through it.

Fantastic!!!!

Another great work by Timothy. I my opinion he is getting as good as Stephen Ambrose.

Progressive Patriotism Put to the Test

Surpassed my expectations by combining storytelling regarding one specific historical / natural event, with context that shows the role of the civil service, along with the trials and tribulations of government service. TR is the hero, but FDR and the CCC make a brief appearance at the end. Youthful hubris -- Gifford Pinchot, the first head of the National Forest Service, boasts that his government team, led by idealistic Ivy League men, can eliminate destructive forest fires. But it is clear that this was excessive hubris and it's not good to even try to do this.