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The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America

Timothy Egan (Goodreads Author)

4.09 · Rating details · 13,548 ratings · 1,672 reviews

On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, and 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 the blink of an eye. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ...more

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Kindle Edition, 349 pages

Published October 19th 2009 by Mariner Books; Reprint edition

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Aug 16, 2019 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

Shelves: lor-2019, 5000-2019

We owe such a debt of gratitude to Teddy Roosevelt, Pinchot and john Muir. Without these men there would be no public lands, no National Forest and Parks, big business would have consumed them in mass. My United States history knowledge is sorely lacking, I studied European history in school, so I've lately been trying to fill in the gaps. This was about Teddy's and Pinchots fight with big business and the public to keep these lands safe. I never knew Taft was so disliked by many, I actually kne ...more

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Aug 06, 2019 Brina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: theodore-roosevelt, western, history, nonfiction

Earlier this year I had the privilege of reading the work of Timothy Egan for the first time. Writing about a subject I knew nothing about, he made the story come alive. Egan has previously won a National book award for nonfiction for his work, so I knew that I had discovered a special author. With summer past it’s halfway mark, I wanted to read another of Egan’s books and found one that seemed appropriate for the season. This time I did know something about the subject matter, as Theodore Roose Earlier this year I had the privilege of reading the work of Timothy Egan for the first time. Writing about a subject I knew nothing about, he made the story come alive. Egan has previously won a National book award for nonfiction for his work, so I knew that I had discovered a special author. With summer past it’s halfway mark, I wanted to read another of Egan’s books and found one that seemed appropriate for the season. This time I did know something about the subject matter, as Theodore Roosevelt is one of my 20th century heroes. I will read anything featuring him, so with a gifted author, and a personal American treasure, I knew that I was in for a special book.

By the time of the gilded age, the American west had officially been “closed”. Homesteaders had settled in cities across the Great Plains, and cities sprung up as far as Phoenix and Seattle. With the transcontinental railroad approaching forty years old, Americans had taken advantage of the manifest destiny prophecy and settled the country from sea to shining sea. Yet, hundreds of thousands of acres of unexplored land remained, virgin forests, pristine lakes, as well as scintillating mountain peaks. Logging companies saw it as their right to saw down trees centuries years old in order to build homes and towns that emerged in outposts as remote as Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and Butte, Montana. Unless a friend of the forest could speak for the trees, American wilderness would fall into the hands of the loggers and robber barons.

Theodore Roosevelt has said that he was as much of a westerner as an easterner. Suffering from asthma as a child, he vowed to remake his body and spent hours in the great outdoors. He felt as much at home in the Badlands of the Dakotas as he did in the upper crust society from which he came. When he became president at age forty two following the assassination of President McKinley, Roosevelt rebranded the Republican Party as progressive, speaking for the middle and working classes. Clearly ahead of his time, Roosevelt tabbed his close friend Gifford Pinchot to become the first Chief Forester of the United States. Trained in France and influenced by conservationist John Muir, Pinchot belong in the outdoors, camping in Yosemite, surveying land along the Pacific coastline, and touring Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. Roosevelt lived for these adventures as well, and, despite opposition from robber barons in the senate, managed to create the National Park system during his presidency. The land was for the people to enjoy, not for robber barons to destroy. After Roosevelt anointed William Howard Taft as his successor in 1908, the battle for conservation would come to dominate Taft’s presidency.

President Taft was a jurist and desired to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a post he would later hold. Although Roosevelt’s successor, from the early days of his presidency it was clear that he allied himself with big business. In a controversial move, he fired Pinchot, and the National Parks were doomed to destruction. Pinchot lobbied for the preservation of the land as an outsider and established Forest Rangers within the parks. The necessity of the Rangers and their knowledge of the land would come to a head on August 20, 1910 outside of Wallace, Idaho, a mining outpost where copper and ore miners had stripped and land and felled the trees. In an unusually hot summer with a warm wind stirring in the Pacific Northwest, it was only a matter of time before the forests of Idaho, Montana, and western Washington were set on fire. With Taft vacationing at his summer home, it was up to Pinchot and his rangers to save thousands of innocent lives and prevent total destruction of the forests.

The Big Burn fire of 1910 is still believed to be the largest in American history. The residue was felt as far away as Chicago and brought conservation to the forefront of American consciousness. In describing the fire, Egan’s story reads like a fast paced thriller, as readers get to know the rangers and civilians who saved lives of the citizens of Wallace, Idaho and surrounding areas. One feisty character was Ione “Pinkie” Adair, a sharpshooting woman who later became a school teacher. During the rescue she would cook potatoes for sixty firefighters and then walk thirty miles to safety. Adair would end up as the longest living survivor of the Big Burn Fire. Americans at this point would have little patience with Taft and his big business cronies in Congress and turn to the Progressivism of Roosevelt and Pinchot once again to save the wilderness from destruction. Although Roosevelt would never again hold higher office, his presence was enough to lead future presidents to expand the national park system, preserving land for future generations to enjoy.

While I found some passages in the Big Burn to be redundant, I enjoyed Egan’s account of a devastating fire that swung the American pendulum in favor of progressive thought, which included conservation. Having read about Roosevelt in the past, I knew about the politics of the era, but Egan captivated my attention in this account of a fire that read like a thriller. I grew up to hearing Smokey the Bear proclaiming that “only you can prevent forest fires,” and Smokey’s message inevitably had its roots in the fire of 1910. The national parks are treasures and it is doubtful that one can visit all of them in a lifetime. Egan brought the story of their formation to life in this compelling story, featuring one of the giants of the American presidency.

3.75 stars (downgraded .25 stars for some repetitive passages) ...more

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Jan 29, 2010 Will Byrnes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, american-history, nature, brain-candy

In 1910, the US Forestry Service was in its infancy. Teddy Roosevelt had put Gifford Pinchot in charge of the foundling agency. But robber barons and local commercial interests used all their resources to try to smother the infant in its crib, using their control of media to lobby against and lie about the Forest Service, and using their money to corrupt public officials in order to deny the Service the manpower and resources needed to actually protect the growing quantity of land held in public In 1910, the US Forestry Service was in its infancy. Teddy Roosevelt had put Gifford Pinchot in charge of the foundling agency. But robber barons and local commercial interests used all their resources to try to smother the infant in its crib, using their control of media to lobby against and lie about the Forest Service, and using their money to corrupt public officials in order to deny the Service the manpower and resources needed to actually protect the growing quantity of land held in public trust. Then, in a drought-parched lands of eastern Washington, western Montana and northern Idaho, the greatest forest fire in US history sparked a major change in public consciousness.

Egan offers historical context for this story, writing about the politics of the day, the forces, personalities and motives involved. As America saw its frontiers vanishing, a president took on the task of preserving some of the nation’s wilderness for future generations. Some things never change. Just as today’s robber barons are willing to despoil the entire planet to bolster next quarter’s bottom line, so the big business interests of 1910 were more than happy to spend the nation’s future to enrich their present.

When a wildfire broke out in the western forests, it was the Forestry Service that was charged with keeping it under control. Pinchot had oversold his vision of the service, believing that forest fires were an aspect of nature that man, and in particular the Service, would be able to control. He was wrong. And short-sighted, penurious Congressional funding for the Service ensured that there would be insufficient resources to manage any but the most modest blazes.

Entire towns were wiped off the map. In some cases this probably represented an improvement. Hundreds of people lost their lives, fighting the fire, fleeing it, or attempting to hide. Egan offers us personal stories of the people involved, the local rangers who tried to organize firefighting squadrons, townspeople who joined the battle, or trampled women and children to save their own lives.

I would have liked for Egan to offer more science in explaining the particularities of this fire. And it might have been informative, if gruesome to go into some of the details of why death by fire is so horrific. Some of that can be found in Daniel James Brown's compelling book, Under a Flaming Sky, about an earlier firestorm in 1894.

There are characters aplenty in The Big Burn, people with whom one can identify, and there are clear lessons to be gleaned that are applicable to contemporary issues. The Big Burn is a fast-paced read that is engaging, informative and thought-provoking.

UPDATES

July 5, 2012 - Egan's column addresses what can only be called The Burning Time as the summer of 2012 puts the lie to deniers of global warming
...more

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Oct 25, 2009 Jeanette (Again) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, america, history

Over the long term, greed was the winner of this battle. Some things never change. We could use another Teddy Roosevelt here in the 21st century. Progressive, outspoken, tenacious, and so gifted with words.

This book is a lot more about politics than it is about The Big Burn. I agree with another reviewer who said the title is misleading, as the book is much more about Gifford Pinchot than Teddy Roosevelt. Also, it is never made clear how the fire "saved America." Still, there's much to learn of ...more

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Jul 09, 2015 Melki rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history

"There was no damn horse fast enough in the country to keep ahead of that fire."

All the world was on fire - flames overhead, flames to the left, flames to the right, the ground was alive.

One August day in 1910, the largest wildfire in US history swept across Washington, Idaho and Montana. The newly established and woefully underfunded Forestry Service struggled to combat the flames. Firefighters were recruited from nearby mining towns.

They came because it was a job, paying twenty-five cents an ...more

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Feb 11, 2010 Marc rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Outstanding, highly readable history of the Great Fire of 1910 that burned 3.2 million acres in and around the Bitterroots National Forest in Idaho and Montana. The author moves deftly between (a) the immediacy of the fire and the experiences of people caught up in it, and (b) the powerful business and political interests whose actions both contributed to and were affected by the disaster.

Timothy Egan has done a tremendous amount of research, but what emerges most clearly (and powerfully) are t ...more

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Nov 18, 2009 Jonathan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Jonathan by: Teddy Roosevelt's ghost

Shelves: history-biography

First off, let me start by saying that Teddy Roosevelt is the man. Anybody who cares about wilderness conservation or has visited a national park should be thankful that he was our president. Egan's book is not only about the great forest fire of 1910 (the titular big burn), but about Roosevelt's efforts to set aside land for future generations. There is plenty of backstory as Egan explores the kinship between TR and his appointed head of forestry Gifford Pinchot, a kinship which ultimately led ...more

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Sep 26, 2015 Darwin8u rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015

“Better for a man to fail, he said, even "to fail greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
― Timothy Egan, The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America

description

A good history of Great Fire of 1910/the Big Burn and the fledgling years of the US Forest Service. Act one covers most of the major players: Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, Senator Heyburn, William Taft, Elers Koch, Bill Weigle,Joe Halm, and Ed Pulaski. Act ...more

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Dec 11, 2016 Irene rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is a highly readable account of the August 20, 1910 raging forest fire, the largest in U.S. history. Egan gives a detailed account of the efforts of the poorly funded, poorly trained rangers who risked their lives to contain the fire for a country who refused to compensate the families of the dead or pay the medical bills of the horrifically injured. Egan argues that the embattled backers of the nascent Forest Service was able to use this event to gain support and funding for this agency. H ...more

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Oct 29, 2009 Lauren rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Lauren by: Fresh Air interview

Shelves: us-history, audiobooks, nature, adventure, pnw, trees-forests

Compelling story about the "Big Burn" fire in the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains in Western Montana and the Idaho panhandle. The fire itself was the catalyst and early justification - albeit a tragic and land-altering one - for the need for a national Forest Service. The book tells of the early conservationist "triumvirate" of Gifford Pinchot (the first chief of the Forest Service) and his more famous partners, Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir. While Pinchot and Muir differed philosophical Compelling story about the "Big Burn" fire in the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains in Western Montana and the Idaho panhandle. The fire itself was the catalyst and early justification - albeit a tragic and land-altering one - for the need for a national Forest Service. The book tells of the early conservationist "triumvirate" of Gifford Pinchot (the first chief of the Forest Service) and his more famous partners, Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir. While Pinchot and Muir differed philosophically later in life, they both understood the importance of setting aside the great forests of the United States FOR the people. Teddy Roosevelt, ever the politician but also one with a true heart for the land, made this a reality in his presidency.

The fire occurred after Roosevelt's presidency in 1910, when the Forest Service was constantly berated and denigrated for the work that they did in the forests, and on the national stage in Congress. Well before conservation thought was part of our national ethos, the wilderness was seen as dark, sinful, and in need of industry and development - it was believed to be God's work (along with manifest destiny) to plow the forests, using all of the timber, building cities and roads, as well as industry for the good of man and progress. Conservationist thought (and preservationist, even more so) flew in the face of this Puritan work ethic. Valuing the untouched land was a foreign concept. However, with the Bitterroot Fire, the Forest Service was able to make a case for governmental regulations, protection, and of course, fire safety. Countless lives were lost and small frontier towns burned to the ground in this fire.

The book spends about 1/3 of its whole on the fire, describing some accounts of survivors. The rest of the book dips into the biographies of Pinchot and Roosevelt - their boxing and wrestling matches in Rock Creek Park in DC! - and their enduring friendship and influence over each other. The final third shows the aftermath of the fire, both in Montana and Idaho, but also in the Capitol, and most importantly in policy and law enacted later. ...more

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Feb 08, 2010 Randy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Timothy Egan writes great books (as well as strong columns for the New York Times). He tricks us a bit with the sub-title. Although there is much about Teddy Roosevelt the main character of this tale is really Gifford Pinchot, the nation's first forester and father of the US Forrest Service and the man most responsible for saving what's left of America's forests. Another of the featured characters is Ed Pulaski, an original forest ranger who was so damaged by the The Big Burn that he never reall ...more

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Aug 16, 2019 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 5000-2019

Thoughts soon.

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Sep 21, 2015 Clif Hostetler rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history

As indicated by the title, this book is about a wildfire that occurred in 1910 that burned about three million acres in northeast Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana. The book also details some of the political issues focusing on Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot (the first Chief of the United States Forest Service from 1905 until his firing in 1910).

The fire provides the impending drama in the book's narrative because the reader doesn't know until the end of the book which of ...more

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Oct 21, 2009 John rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Timothy Egan, who brilliantly brought the Dust Bowl era to life in "The Worst Hard Time," serves up more real-life gloom and doom with "The Big Burn."
This is the story of the worst wildfire in American history, the Great Fire of 1910, which burned 3 million acres, destroyed several towns, left 85 dead and many others disabled for life. It's also the story of the U.S. Forest Service, in its infancy and cruelly underfunded in 1910, and the valiant efforts of its rangers to fight the fire. And it's ...more

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Jul 07, 2015 Jean rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot were motivated to protect land under attack by the wholesale rape of the west by timber barons and railroad magnates. In the early 1900's the West was opening up; land seized from Native Americans was given away. Timber barons and railroad magnates grabbed land to consolidate their hold on the untouched American wealth of land, timber and minerals. In response, Roosevelt created National Parks, attempting to protect some of the land from the rapacious land-gra Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot were motivated to protect land under attack by the wholesale rape of the west by timber barons and railroad magnates. In the early 1900's the West was opening up; land seized from Native Americans was given away. Timber barons and railroad magnates grabbed land to consolidate their hold on the untouched American wealth of land, timber and minerals. In response, Roosevelt created National Parks, attempting to protect some of the land from the rapacious land-grab. It is fascinating to learn of the influence of other visionaries of the time such as John Muir.

To bolster support for the newly minted National Parks, Roosevelt promoted the claim that they could prevent disastrous forest fires. The foresters took this charge to heart and worked diligently to achieve this unattainable goal. Here we see the seeds of disasters to come when man tries to deny a force of nature.

In retaliation, Congress underfunded the fledgling Forest Service, hoping that it would be too weak to interfere with timber thieves and bogus homesteads (homesteaders sold them to timber companies for $8,000, 1910 money!). Congress refused to pay for shovels, horses, or food. These insults were nothing compared to how they would treat the victims and survivors of the Big Burn. One hundred years ago, Congress proved it was as short-sighted and mean-spirited as the one we live under today.

In 1910 a 'perfect storm' of dry weather, flammable fuel, electrical storms, and sparks and embers from railroads and human activities, produced America's largest wildfire of 3 million acres. Understaffed, underpaid, and paying for their own tools and supplies, foresters fought the 'Big Burn' of 1910 in the Bitterroot area (Washington/Idaho border). Inhabitants( bankers, saloon owners, etc), lately arrived to profit from land and wages, refused to signup to protect the land they were profiting from. They ignored warnings, then panicked when fire approached. Well-to-do merchants fought women for seats on evacuation trains.

As a reward for dying protecting the people of the Bitterroot, foresters received $500 for ONE memorial, and nothing for the medical bills and disabilities of the heroes of the Big Burn. Forest Service employees invested their health and lives in protecting the forest that Roosevelt had charged them with. They were rewarded with death; quick in the fire or lingering afterward: blind, burned and lungs damaged. Doctors refused to treat them when their personal money ran out. The bureaucrats of Washington, DC, tools of Congress, denied and denied and denied. Sound familiar?

Even the Carnegie Hero Fund refused to recognize the sacrifice of Ed Pulaski, blinded and disabled while saving the lives of 45 men in his crew. He is the inventor of the Pulaski axe that foresters use to this day. Pulaski never earned a dime from this invention.

Such are the wages of working for the Federal Government ruled by the wealthy Congress, who deny payment to employees while taking 'perks' for themselves. Eventually Congress converted the Forest Service into the servant of the timber industry that it is now. Now they 'save' the forest by designing the roads that enable the clear cutting of western forests. Visitors to national forests must beware the timber trucks. Foresters that try to serve the forest are suppressed by managers who serve the party in power.

This is a chapter of American history that needs to be replayed, reevaluated, and learned from. The author tries to rescue this story of mistreatment as ultimately hopeful but it is very hard find the good news in this painful chapter. ...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Beth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was an all-county-read for my county library. It was the most popular all-county-read by far, and the many discussions and special events arranged around the book were well-attended. This was probably because we live in a forest-fire threatened area, surrounded by pine beetle-killed trees that are highly flammable. It was fascinating to read about this horrific fire in the past and imagine it happening again and how we could or could not prepare for and fight the blaze.

I also found the hist ...more

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Jun 23, 2014 Jim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This book really engaged my interest. About a horrific forest fire ( the worst in the nation's history), it also fills in the political background to that event ( the Big Burn). As the first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot was given the assignment by President "Teddy" Roosevelt to protect the nation's public forests. The main threat was perceived to be the big timber companies, the railroad, and settlers and others and the foresters had a thankless and sometimes dangerous job t ...more

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Oct 01, 2013 HBalikov rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I didn't know about Theodore Roosevelt's relationship with John Muir. I knew only a little about Gifford Pinchot and his dedication to forestry and the origins of the U.S. Forest Service. However, dry this sounds, this isn't a dry book.

Egan does his best to pack in the action and the conflicts. There are plenty of heroes and villains. There is the whole of the Upper West Wilderness to explore. The Bib Burn was an extraordinary event. It is examined in various contexts. If there is any structura ...more

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Jan 02, 2017 Nancy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

It seems quite poignant to be reading this book at this juncture in time. While I avoid political comments, I can’t help but feel like America has come full circle, arriving at the same point it was at in Teddy Roosevelt’s day. Nearly a hundred years later we are again arguing about the balance of commercial rights to natural resources versus keeping public lands untouched. This book was a treasure of information, a fascinating read that seems so pertinent in the climate of our impending adminis It seems quite poignant to be reading this book at this juncture in time. While I avoid political comments, I can’t help but feel like America has come full circle, arriving at the same point it was at in Teddy Roosevelt’s day. Nearly a hundred years later we are again arguing about the balance of commercial rights to natural resources versus keeping public lands untouched. This book was a treasure of information, a fascinating read that seems so pertinent in the climate of our impending administration. It will be difficult to refrain from effusive and detailed comments!

John Muir, Gifford Pinchot and Teddy Roosevelt were the trio of men who fought at the turn of the century to set aside and develop lands in the public domain, lands that weren’t going to fall victim to the lumber and mining interests. A gift to the generations to come. Gifford Pinchot in his book “The Fight for Conservation” said that to ensure that people in 2010 would have a country of clean water, healthy forests and open land would require battle with certain groups, namely “the alliance between business and politics.” It was, he said, “the snake that we must kill.” And that snake was personified in the wealthy ‘robber barons’ whose money was derived from those natural resources. There was so much game playing behind the scenes. The connections between railroads, lumber and mining were deep. I’m shocked the consolidation of various rail lines wasn’t seen in violation of antitrust laws. I also found it surprising the manipulative buying up of land from people who legally homesteaded in the national forests only to sell back to the very interests the government was trying to keep out.

The Big Burn is about the historic fire of August 1910 that raced through portions of Idaho and Montana - a landmass the size of Connecticut. The destruction and loss of life was swift and far reaching, a tragedy to public domains and a huge economic loss to those industries. This was during the infancy of the forest service. Men who had taken jobs with the new government agency had little respect among locals, whose employment was dependent upon the railroad, mining and lumber interests. Prior to the fire, the forest service was understaffed, employees were not paid in a timely fashion, were dreadfully ill equipped, usually paying for tools, uniforms and horses out of their own pockets. Afterwards the government accepted no responsibility for any perceived failure, did nothing to pay medical expenses for those rangers maimed or injured in the tragedy, nor did they initially pay for burial of the victims.

By this point in time Roosevelt was no longer president, all his conservation efforts embattled by Taft’s weak administration and the waffling of cabinet appointees back in support of big business interests. The 'big burn' was a wake up call that turned around public perceptions and sympathies in support of the burgeoning agency. Opponents still existed but had little backing. Idaho Senator Heyburn had the audacity to suggest that healthy forests be clear cut to avoid such devastation in the future!! The lumber companies were allowed back into public lands but any push for improved fire control was merely for their benefit. Then came the damage wreaked by clear cutting large swaths of land. The question today is still how much human intervention can some of our treasured land withstand? Who gets to regulate what, where and how much? We can’t agree on climate change, fracking… the list goes on. Tourism is also turning into as much a problem as corporations.

Opinions on fire prevention have changed too. Although often harmful and destructive to humans, naturally occurring wildfires play an integral role in nature. They return nutrients to the soil by burning dead or decaying matter. They also act as a disinfectant, removing disease-ridden plants and harmful insects from a forest ecosystem. And by burning through thick canopies and brushy undergrowth, wildfires allow sunlight to reach the forest floor, enabling a new generation of seedlings to grow. Fire may be critical to the health of a forest.

The personal stories Egan included in his narrative were touching and inspiring. The dedication of so many people to conservation efforts should have taught us something. Pinchot believed conservation was a moral issue. It was also fascinating to follow Roosevelt’s push into progressive politics. Several people involved started out Republican and left the party because of a difference in philosophy around environmental issues. Sound familiar?? Within these same people, the progressive politics went hand in hand not just with conservation, but extended into child labor laws, government protection for those with disabilities, prosecution of trusts, regulation of banks, insurance companies and railroads, graduated income tax and inheritance taxes.

In my emails this week was an article from Smithsonian about Obama Designating Two New National Monuments. How timely that our outgoing President is following in Roosevelt’s footsteps and slipping in some designations before he leaves office. Pinchot in his speech writing for Roosevelt had said humans should never take more from the earth than they can put back. His wife said of him, “Conservation to Gifford Pinchot was never a vague fuzzy aspiration, it was concrete, exact, dynamic.” ...more

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Oct 12, 2014 Becky rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: man-versus-nature, beaurocratic-bullshit-corporations, history, hubris, men-were-men, 2013-2014-natural-disaster-themed, modern-nonfic

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America is easily the most misleading title ever. First of all- I feel that less than a quarter of the book was really about the Big Burn, and this section still really didn’t have that much to say about the actual fire. It called the fire a “crown fire” without ever explaining what that meant, and how its more dangerous than other types of fires, it didn’t explain the science behind the fire breaks or what the seriously under-budgeted rang The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America is easily the most misleading title ever. First of all- I feel that less than a quarter of the book was really about the Big Burn, and this section still really didn’t have that much to say about the actual fire. It called the fire a “crown fire” without ever explaining what that meant, and how its more dangerous than other types of fires, it didn’t explain the science behind the fire breaks or what the seriously under-budgeted rangers were trying to accomplish, etc. It told the story of the men in the fire, yes, but it didn’t really tell the story of the fire itself. I would highly recommend Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894, because it will give you an excellent background on the different types of forest fires, the weather they create, how they feed themselves, but also on how people and animals suffer through, during, and after a fire, and how our bodies are uniquely incapable, it seems, of healing burns. Most of the section about the fire dealt with the bureaucratic dismissal of the people that were injured in the line of duty. Men that were disfigured and permanently unemployable not receiving medical attention that they desperately needed because they couldn’t pay for it, because the government refused to act despite the fact that these were their employees, and were following orders. It will ignite your outrage, yes, the loss of life, the loss of property, the loss of such stunning natural beauty, all a terrible loss that was ultimately ignored by a government entirely run by business.

Then there is the sneaky insert of Roosevelt’s name into the subtitle. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an absolutely sucker for subtitles- the longer the better! And I totally love Teddy Roosevelt. I love that he tried to save the soul of his party, that he saved our national forests, that he was a blustering-mustachio’d cowboy of a president. It’s not that Roosevelt wasn’t present in this book, he had a decent role in the beginning, but it was still mostly Gifford Pinchot’s story, but as that’s a relatively unknown name, the publisher went with Teddy. The only real reason that this bothers me is the fact that this book is nearly a biography of Pinchot. Long before and long after the “big burn” we follow Pinchot through his spiritual attachment to his long dead fiancée, his devotion to his mentor, Roosevelt, and his endless fight (which sometimes degenerated to bickering) with other political characters of the time. I would argue that there was far more about Pinchot then the Burn or about Roosevelt.

That doesn’t mean that it isn’t interesting. I’m very appreciative of our national parks system and for our forest rangers, and I didn’t know anything about the history of the service. It was very informative, and the Big Burn as a backdrop formed an interesting narrative foil for the sickening relationship between the partyline and Big Business. If you ever think things have changed, just read a history book. Same shit, different day.

I have to admit, though, that this book didn’t pack the same punch for me that The Worst Hard Times did. I didn’t connect with the personas in the book, except for Polaski, because for some reason Pinchot feels a bit irretrievable. I felt the story and connections to the Big Burn could have been tightened, especially earlier on when I was starting to wonder what book I was really reading. I also think spending some more time on the average reaction to the Burn from the public at wide could have strengthened the arguments that Egan was trying to make. We know that the Big Burn served as a catalyst for strengthening the forest service, but he simply doesn’t spend much time on how productively Pinchot or the others used that. Or whether average Joe was writing into the Congressmen, or electing new types of people. Nor does Egan ever touch on modern problems that face the Forest Service, or the massive burns we’ve been seeing lately, he draws no parallels to the fires in the Sierra Nevadas or Yellowstone.

In the end 3.5 stars because a) the title was so misleading, I have to admit I was somewhat let down b) There were multiple areas in the book that could been flushed out to make a more compelling story c) I never really felt that he successfully defended his thesis, or demonstrated it sufficiently.

It’s a good book. Its worth the read but I don’t think I would bump it to the top of any piles.

...more

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Dec 07, 2019 Blaine DeSantis rated it liked it · review of another edition

For me this book suffers from comparison from two others works by the author that I have read. I loved "The Worst Hard Times" and "Breaking Blue" and so I was hopeful that this would be another 5***** effort from Egan. Not to be! Where the other books had compelling personalities driving the story, this book featured as lead characters Fire and National Forrests. Sure there some interesting parts about Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot who started the whole National Forrest Service, along with ...more

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Apr 29, 2019 Chrissie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: bio, history, flora, audible, usa

Basically a biography of Gifford Pinchot, the founder of the US Forest Service- Looks interesting!

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The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl 3 stars
The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America vy Douglas Brinkley ...more

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Jan 25, 2010 Kurt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nature, non-fiction, history

I first heard about the 1910 event known as "The Big Burn" many years ago while reading about hiking trails in my home state of Idaho. The magnitude of this huge forest fire intrigued me at the time; so, when I saw a book on the bestseller list with the title The Big Burn I immediately took notice.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It has so many qualities that make it my kind of book: Nature, Idaho, History, Conservation, Adventure, Politics, Tragedy, Disaster, and best of all - excellent writ ...more

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Jan 19, 2010 Patty rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is the kind of history book I love to read. The author spends the time to get as many actual quotes as possible and then weaves them into the story as narrative rather than as statements. Egan brings alive Teddy Roosevelt, his "forester" Pinchot and the many people in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho/Montana who were there in August of 1910 when the entire forest burned in a couple of days. The ones who survived tell compelling stories of what it was like when the fire came at them pushed ...more

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Oct 31, 2009 Mahlon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone with an interest in History, fire prevention, or conservation.

Recommended to Mahlon by: Amazon

Shelves: read-2010

Timothy Eagan's The Big Burn tells the story of the Nation's largest wildfire, which burned parts of Idaho, Montana, and Washington. It burned August 20-21 1910, killing 87 (including 78 firefighters) The great fire severely tested the recently founded U.S. Forest Service, leading many to question it's mission, and even it's existence. Eagan uses the fire to discuss the history of the Forest Service, and to highlight it's place in president Theodore Roosevelt's conservation plan, and his friends ...more

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Jul 27, 2015 cameron rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A tremendously interesting read. Not the best stylistically but most of this information was new and fascinating to me. I knew about Teddy Roosevelt's aim to set aside more land for National Parks but what I hadn't understood was the critical battle between the great robber barons and the Park Services Department. Nor did I realize the tremendous efforts of the Service men who battled to enforce preservation long after Roosevelt's leaving office and political efforts to destroy the Department. T ...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Laura rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, other-nonfiction, conservation, secret-garden-bookclub

If you are interested in the historical politics surrounding land preservation and the founding of the National Parks system, I imagine this is a great read. It was a different perspective for me, as I'd only heard the Big Burn referenced in the context of what happens when you try and mess with natural systems without understanding them (a mere paragraph in the epilogue mentions this factor). Egan clearly decided he wanted solid heroes and villains, so Teddy Roosevelt can do no wrong, Gifford P ...more

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Jan 02, 2010 Adelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A beautifully written, engaging book. Before I had read the book, I had never heard of the Fire of 1910, and probably wouldn't have cared even if I had. Timothy Egan put me right there in the Big Lonesome and the Bitterroot Mountains with flames roaring round me on all sides. I cared what happened to the forest. I cared what happned to Ed Pulaski and his crew. Would some of them be alive when all was over?

I liked the rightness of the historical circle. Teddy Roosevelt, having estabished the For ...more

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Aug 18, 2019 Kathrine Holyoak rated it it was amazing

My father’s career was with the BLM. He died while on the job fighting a range fire when I was 15. Two years later, my mother remarried a Forest service ranger. Therefore this story of the genesis of western US public lands and the inherent stewardship over them felt personal. Adding Teddy Roosevelt to my hero list, as well as Gifford Pinochet. And Timothy Egan for bringing me their stories. Qualifications for being a hero don’t include perfection, but they do include an honest heart, deep convi ...more

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Nov 12, 2011 Robin Lee Hatcher rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: challenge-2016, history, audiobooks

I loved learning about the beginning of the Forest Service in the US. About Teddy Roosevelt and so many others involved, both for and against, the establishment of national public lands. And since much of this story took place in my state, Idaho, there was a very personal feel to the story as well.

Timothy Egan is a wonderful writer. He knows how to make history as entertaining as a novel. Although his book The Worst Hard Times is my favorite, The Big Burn still earns five stars from me. Definite ...more

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About Timothy Egan

Timothy Egan

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Timothy Egan is a Pulitzer Prize winning author of nine books, including THE WORST HARD TIME, which won the National Book Award. His latest book, A PILGRIMAGE TO ETERNITY, is a personal story, a journey over an ancient trail, and a history of Christianity. He also writes a biweekly opinion column for The New York Times. HIs book on the photographer Edward Curtis, SHORT NIGHTS OF THE SHADOW CATCHER ...more

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“There is not in the world a more ignoble character than the mere money-getting American, insensitive to every duty, regardless of every principle, bent only on amassing a fortune," Roosevelt said just before he became president.” — 5 likes

“Though a degree from Yale was not required, Pinchot wanted his foresters to be able to write well, for the numerous reports that their enemies in Congress would be second-guessing.” — 4 likes

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