The big burn : Teddy Roosevelt and the fire that saved America / Timothy Egan.
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. Equally dramatic is the larger story 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.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780618968411
- ISBN: 0618968415
- ISBN: 9780547394602
- ISBN: 0547394608
- Physical Description: x, 324 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
- Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
Content descriptions
- Bibliography, etc. Note:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-305) and index.
- Formatted Contents Note:
- Prologue: A fire at the end of the world -- Part I. In on the creation. "A peculiar intimacy" ; Roost of the robber barons ; Great Crusade ; Deadwood days ; Showdown -- Part II. What they lost. Summer of smoke ; Men, men, men! ; Spaghetti Westerners ; Firestorm's eve ; Blowup ; Lost day ; Lost night ; Towns afire ; To save a town ; Missing ; Living and the dead -- Part III. What they saved. Fallout ; One for the boys ; Ashes.
Search for related items by subject
- Subject:
- Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919.
Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946.
United States. National Park Service > History.
Presidents > United States > Biography.
Conservationists > United States > Biography.
Forest conservation > United States > History.
Nature conservation > United States > History.
National parks and reserves > United States > History.
Forest fires > Montana > History.
Forest fires > Idaho > History. - Genre:
- Biographies.
Additional Physical Form Titles
| Big burn. |
Available copies
- 40 of 41 copies available at NC Cardinal.
- 1 of 1 copy available at Onslow County Public Library. (Show)
Holds
- 0 current holds with 41 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville Main Library | 973.911 EGA (Text) | 36015000658944 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Albert Carlton - Cashiers Community Library | 973.911 E (Text) | 39493106609235 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Alleghany Public Library | 973.911 EGA (Text) | 40599000779127 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Avery County Morrison Public Library | NFIC 973.911 EGA (Text) | 31111002298709 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Canton Library | 973.911 (Text) | 33115006983552 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Cleveland County Main Library | 973.911 EGA (Text) | 22281500059313 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Denton Public Library | 973.911 EGA (Text) | 25908008263936 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| East Asheville Library | 973.911 EGA (Text) | 0020507973343 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Fletcher Branch | 973.911 E (Text) | 33258006525773 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Forsyth Central | 973.911 E (Text) | 0112515197849 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
