Once again, Timothy Egan brings to life an incredible chapter of American history, centered on the country’s largest forest fire in the Bitterroot Mountains in 1910.This gigantic firestorm consumed 3,000,000 acres in 48 hours. Under extremely hostile conditions, more than 10,000 men worked fire lines that quickly became a fight for their lives.  From this remote rugged country of Idaho, Montana and parts of Washington, an enormous pall of smoke drifted as far east as Chicago and New York, ships 500 miles at sea couldn’t navigate by stars and the country was transfixed by this inferno.As exciting and enormously devastating as this monster fire was, the political battles that raged around it were equally riveting for the U.S. as a whole:  conservation efforts were under fierce attack that demanded the best political minds to solve.  Egan has a masterful ability to bring to life forgotten historical incidents in a way that is as relevant and intriguing today as it was in 1910.  A must read and a great addition for western history readers.  

Marilyn S.

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

By Timothy Egan

$27.00

ISBN-13: 9780618968411
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 10/2009

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