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    The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America
    Unavailable
    The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America
    Unavailable
    The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America

    Written by Timothy Egan

    Narrated by Robertson Dean

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    About this audiobook

    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 ten thousand men - college boys, day workers, immigrants from mining camps - to fight the fire. 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. Equally dramatic 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 and preserved for every citizen. The robber barons fought Roosevelt and Pinchot's rangers, but the Big Burn saved the forests even as it destroyed them: the heroism shown by the rangers turned public opinion permanently in their favor and became the creation myth that drove the Forest Service, with consequences still felt in the way our national lands are protected - or not - today.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 19, 2009
    ISBN9781441806987
    Author

    Timothy Egan

    TIMOTHY EGAN is a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter and the author of eight other books, most recently The Immortal Irishman, a New York Times bestseller. His book on the Dust Bowl, The Worst Hard Time, won a National Book Award for nonfiction. His account of photographer Edward Curtis, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, won the Carnegie Medal for nonfiction. He writes a biweekly opinion column for the New York Times.

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    Reviews for The Big Burn

    4/5

    313 ratings46 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The kind of history you can't believe could be forgotten -- but it routinely is. Timothy Egan's journalistic researching serves him in good stead here, allowing him to paint a detailed picture of the fire and the individuals' stories. The structure, starting at the fire then jumping back to give lots of background, is somewhat teasing, but the background does eventually pay off as the events and their political aftermath unfold.I got quite attached to the dedicated foresters and plucky citizens of the tale, and even found myself engaged by the portraits of Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, which I did not expect. Come for the amazing stories of survival and inferno, stay for the perspective on the history of the American West, the Forest Service and conservationism!
    • 4/5
      Teddy Roosevelt, national parks, wild fires, this nonfiction book offers a fascinating glimpse into America at the beginning of the 20th century. A huge wild fire in Idaho changed the nation’s view on protecting our country’s beautiful landscapes. Roosevelt and a man named Pinchot were the driving force behind the change.
    • 5/5
      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 ten thousand men 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 recreates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force, and the larger story of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot, that follows is equally resonant. 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. Even as TR's national forests were smoldering they were saved: The heroism shown by his rangers turned public opinion permanently in favor of the forests, though it changed the mission of the forest service in ways we can still witness today
    • 4/5
      Thoroughly enjoyed this story about the wildfire of 1910. There was really no one at this time trained to fight these terrible firestorms. The forest service were just getting a start so the service was hiring anyone who they could. So many men went into this firestorm with no training, doing the best they could, to save their families, their towns, their forests. Timothy Egan is a great storyteller and he has hit a homerun with this saga as well. This story has many familiar characters as well, from Teddy Roosevelt to William Taft. This is a story of true heroism in the face of horrifying odds. A very detailed account of the Big Burn of 1910; the people who were lost, the towns that were lost, and the many who were injured and permanently damaged.
    • 5/5
      Egan gives readers an in-depth and all-encompassing look at the great fire of 1910, which burned though Montana, Idaho, and eastern Washington. He examines the issue from both a large and a small persepective. He reviews political issues, politicians, personalities, and businesses that had a stake in the forests as well as the lives of individual foresters and various others brought on to work that summer. His accounts of these days are heartbreaking and inspirational. His writing about the area around Wallace, Idaho during those days is moving and heartwrenching. I have added the names of heroes to my memory, those whose example I will look to in times of crisis. One particular hero was Ed Pulaski whose story is inspirational, but bitter. Egan expertly details the amazing lives of both Gifford Pinchot and Theodore Roosevelt, their work and friendship, which in itself would make this book well worth reading. Perhaps that might have been the end of the story, but Egan continues to tell the forests' story up until the recent past. I might add that, in truth, Egan is slightly biased, although especially with Pinchot, offered a well balanced view. Indeed, he painted the opponents of the Forest Service as greedy and short-sighted, and who could blame him in the case of men like Senator William Clark from Montana. Overall, very well written, very well researched and a very important story we all should know.
    • 5/5
      This is a fascinating true story by one of America's best storytellers. As someone who spends a lot of time in our National Forests, I had no idea how hard Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot and all the early forest rangers had to work to make it happen. Our country would be a whole poorer without the far-reaching vision of these incredible men.Anything you read by Timothy Egan is thoroughly researched, extremely well written, and immensely informative. This is another terrific book.
    • 4/5
      The amazing story of a fire which set the course of American conservation, even if took decades to realize it! So many individual tragedies and triumphs wrapped in terror and sorrow this book you be read by everyone and anyone interested in the distruction of the environment.
    • 4/5
      The Big Burn is nonfiction and is about the creation of the US Forest Service and a huge fire in eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana in 1910. The chapters about the fire itself were gripping. The horror of men (and women) caught in the conflagration is clear but Egan is not writing for shock-value. His bias (he likes the rangers) is apparent, but he only gives in to some preaching about the importance of healthy forests and preserved wilderness in the last 20 pages or so. I live in Seattle and spent many years in Oregon, so the territory is familiar and beloved. I continue to learn about Teddy Roosevelt -- I still don't think I'd want to have dinner with him, but I think he was truly a good guy and possibly one of our better presidents (i.e., willing to take risk, willing to lead, committed to something greater than the next election). The book chronicles the importance of Gifford Pinchot, Ed Pulaski, and other early players in the setting aside of wild lands in the US. Very readable.
    • 3/5
      Didn't live up to the brag. When Egan is writing about the Bitteroot Mountains or the actual fire of 1910 he is spot on. The weakest parts of the book are his attempt @ a capsule biography of Gifford Pinchot and trying to set the fire in a national political context. In addtion, the final chapter is not only a soapbox, but feels like padding. I didn't learn much that I didn't already know as folktales growing up in the area.The publishing industry's lust for lurid subtitles continues undiminished, "Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America" is completely overblown. The fire may have saved the US Forest Service but even Egan admits in the final chapter that big business returned to the woods with a clear cut vengence less than 25 years later.
    • 4/5
      This book tells the story of the 3 million acre fire in Montana and Idaho in 1910 as well as the creation of the forest service 4 years prior. On the whole the book was interesting but the first half is a bit slow detailing more than you would ever need to know about president Teddy Roosevelt who created the Forest Service and Gifford Pinchot who was the first to run the department. What the firemen who fought this fire faced was horrific and the treatment they received from the U.S. government was almost worse. A sad state of affairs from our government. One thing I found surprising was that with all the wealth both Gifford and Roosevelt had, neither one of them ever compensated the forest service workers for doing the work these two men expected of them, knowing full well the government also did not help them. I found this fact to be equally shameful.
    • 3/5
      found it slow in parts, but overall an interesting look at a time period I am not that familiar with; includes some great quotes by Teddy Roosevelt that are as timely today as when he said them
    • 4/5
      These are my kind of books.
      Who knew . . . .
      about these fires in 1910 ? - none have ever been worse!
      about the towns lost and the heroes who fought the fires and how they failed or succeeded ?
      about Roosevelt's involvement with founding the National Forest Service ?
      about Gifford Pinchot and his role in saving forests throughout the country ?
      about the Big Lumber barons and their battle to clear cut the country ?
      about the politics involved in all the above ?

      Well composed to lay out the various facts and interweave them - interesting and educational.
    • 4/5
      Egan has written an informative book about the early days of the US Forest Service, the conservation movement and the struggle of progressive politicians against big business, a struggle reminiscent of today's struggle around renewable energy vs. fossil fuels. I most appreciated learning about early rangers like Elers Koch and Ed Pulaski.
    • 5/5
      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 by hurricane force winds.

      The back story of how the U.S. Forest Service was established and so underfunded that it almost ceased is fascinating although not as compelling as the story of the fire. It is necessary so you understand how something that destroyed so much was responsible for saving an agency and establishing a firm foothold for our National Forest system today.

      Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      THE BIG BURN satisfies on all counts. It's beautifully written and wonderfully informative, shifting in scope from the forest rangers and firefighters on the ground during the "big burn" of 1910 all the way to the White House. Timothy Egan tackles some big ideas, charting the birth of conservation and of America's national parks, but he never loses sight of his story.

      Egan's prose is a pure pleasure to read, as beautiful as it is clear. The whole book is brimming with elegant phrases, like when Egan writes about "stapling railroads along every river" or the "snapping horsetail of blazes". He builds on a solid foundation of research and peppers the book with little anecdotes and curious quotations.

      The way the whole green movement has taken off lately, it's fascinating to go back to a time when the idea of conservation was radical. I didn't expect to find much in common between my own views and those of Teddy Roosevelt and his nature apostle, Gifford Pinchot. One hundred years is a long time. To my surprise, I understood them perfectly. There's a lot of inspiration to be found in their love of nature, and even today it would be difficult to match their achievements.

      THE BIG BURN is a gorgeous book, and if the subject matter sparks even the tiniest bit of interest, it's absolutely worth your time.
    • 5/5
      Oh, this was a great read. I think I must be turning into my father, because more and more I find myself riveted to books that describe severe weather or other natural disasters. This is a great story (true story) about the serendipitous timing of the the 1910 fire that took out most of Idaho -- coming at a time when Theodore Roosevelt's proposed National Forest system was being undermined by Congress and big business, especially mining and timber.In essence:Before the fire:TR: You know what we need? A system of national forests with forest rangers.Big Business: OH NO WE DO NOT.Everyone else: Um, we don't really know what that is.After the fire:Everyone: OMG, we need forest rangers!TR: Uh huh.Okay, some of that is my fascination with TR. The book is just as much (maybe more) about his appointee as the first director of the forest service, Gifford Pinchot. John Muir makes a cameo.The chapters about the fire itself and the impact on the small towns in its path, and the individuals charged with fighting it, are edge-of-your-seat amazing. It's a great look at the natural American landscape, as well as the development of Deadwood-esque communities. And a cast of (real life) wacky characters to round everything out. The book closes by talking about how the fire rallied a lot of support for a well-funded forest service with the intention that the rangers would prevent all fires, and then of course it turns out that forests need fires to replenish themselves -- this seemed a bit rushed, or maybe the author felt it was not central to the primary focus of the book, I don't know. Or maybe he felt it was obvious, what else do you say?
    • 5/5
      Fascinating discussion of Gifford Pinchot and the beginnings of the conservation movement in the US told from the perspective of the event that Pinchot made into the USFS "creation myth," the forest fire of August 1910 that engulfed Washington state, Idaho and Montana. This is a bio of Pinchot, a political history of the TR years and efforts to initiate conservation including the creation of the Forest Service, and an account of the individuals and events surrounding the event referred to by the title. I listened to this book unabridged on CD and the narration added immensely to my enjoyment.
    • 5/5
      An excellent telling of the origin of the national forests during the Roosevelt era. Well written and informative.
    • 4/5
      Timothy Egan writes short books of history that we never learned in school. His "The Worst Hard Time", about the tragic collision of the Dustbowl and the Great Depression, was a fine read, and "The Big Burn" comes close to matching it. The beginnings of the National Forest Service and its mentors, Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir, and especially Gifford Pinchot, a true woodsman and also eventually governor of PA, is told with great political insight. Egan's strength is in the personal stories. Teddy and Gifford were "bros" of the time, boxing, wrestling, mountain climbing, and setting policy to keep unspoiled land safe from the mining, railroad, and logging interests. Unfortunately, as the Koch brothers and Repugs of today, there was plenty of congressional opposition and support for oligarchs. The Big Burn in Montana and Washington State was the largest forest fire of its time, killing 125, including young, inexperienced firefighters, and town drunks who chose to keep the saloons roaring. There are photographs and personal stories that make this a fast retelling of a forgotten time in isolated places.
    • 3/5
      The central section, which details the fire and its aftermath is really, really compelling. The first and third sections, which are essentially about presidential cabinet politics, are less so. And I like presidential history!
    • 5/5
      Excellent. Good story, great narrator ... told well. This is (was) an excellent book for a long car trip because it keeps you engrossed and time flies by. I knew the basic story but this brought the story to life for me. Highly recommend.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed this one just as much as [The Worst Hard Time] Egan can really write to make history exciting and interesting.
    • 4/5
      Brings alive the magnificent horror of the massive wildfire a century ago, and does so through great characterization of the people involved. I wonder at the stark contrast between heroes and villains, but they're so vividly drawn that I was completely taken. I have a newfound respect for Teddy Roosevelt and the odd Gifford Pinchot.
    • 4/5
      Writing history about a dramatic event, particularly a natural or human disaster, presents the challenge of balancing the background information a reader needs to absorb the historical impact of the event against the dramatic minute-by-minute accounts of the disaster unfolding. In the Big Burn, which tells the story of a giant fire that swept across parts of Washington, Idaho, and Montana in 1910, Egan handles this balance well. After introducing the beginning of the disaster in a short prologue, Egan drops back to offer a biography of American conservation and the birth of the US Forest Service under Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot. He then returns to the harrowing story of how forest rangers, settlers, black 'buffalo' soldiers, and untrained immigrant firefighters survived or died in the firestorm of the Big Burn. The end of the book traces the later lives of the characters that survived the fire, and, briefly, the marks it left on the Forest Service. The two stories -- the rise of the Forest Service and the scramble to survive a fire out of control - have only a tangential relationship, but the verve and color of Egan's writing makes both interesting. Where it has to choose, the book opts for the dramatic narrative of the people caught in the fire, so while it's a great read for that, it's a beginning rather than an end for someone looking for information about the early years of the Forest Service and its fire policies.I think the basic relationship between the two stories could be described this way: before the fire, wealthy landed interests tried to kill or starve the nascent Forest Service and get the public lands turned over for private resource extraction. These tensions were reflected in relationships between mining and railroad towns and forest rangers on the ground. During the Big Burn, everyone was overwhelmed, but the rangers and the black soldiers reacted more or less sensibly, while many of the untrained firefighters and townsfolk were simply mowed down. After the burn, both rangers and firefighters were inadequately compensated for their injuries and loses, and many suffered health problems for the rest of their lives. Wealthy business interests stopped trying the abolish the Forest Service and instead co-opted it, turning it into an agency that sought to suppress all fires to protect timber for commercial harvest.
    • 4/5
      On the afternoon of August 20, 2010, 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. This is partly the story of overmatched rangers against the implacable fire and partly the story of 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 and preserved for every citizen.
    • 4/5
      This excellent book brings alive the magnificent horror of the massive wildfire a century ago, and does so through great characterization of the people involved. I wonder at the stark contrast between heroes and villains, but they're so vividly drawn that I was completely taken. I have a newfound respect for Teddy Roosevelt and the odd Gifford Pinchot.
    • 4/5
      Great book--described the great fire of 1910 in Idaho, Washington and Montana. I wish I'd paid more attention to history while I was matriculated at the University of Idaho in Moscow during the 1970s. The book connected the beltway fiction world to the world of the forests of Northern Idaho. I especially enjoyed the discussion of Gifford Pinchot, first Chief of the USFS...his job must have been very tough. Also, I used a "Pulaski" while working in the USFS as a youngster. The pulaski is a axe/hoe designed by Ed Pulaski; one of the heroes of the fire. Supposedly, something over 100 persons of mixed background died during the fighting of the fire. It must have been a very interesting time to live in.
    • 4/5
      This was a good book about the huge forest fire that hit Washington, Montana, and Idaho in 1910.
    • 3/5
      This book was the story of the US Forest Service and how the debate regarding the fight over land for development and protection of huge forests was answered by Mother Nature with a huge fire that wiped out vast tracks of trees. The "Big Burn" brought conversation back to the public eye and helped to preserve many of our natural resources.
    • 5/5
      Very engaging history of the big fire of 1910 and everything that led up to it along with the background politics of creating the National Forest system. Fascinating and easy to listen to.