About this item

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.



About the Author

Timothy Egan

TIMOTHY EGAN is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and the author of nine books, including the forthcoming, A PILGRIMAGE TO ETERNITY, which will be released on Oct. 15. His most recent book, THE IMMORTAL IRISHMAN, was a New York Times Bestseller. His book on the Dust Bowl, THE WORST HARD TIME, won a National Book Award for nonfiction. His book on photographer Edward Curtis, SHORT NIGHTS OF THE SHADOW CATCHER, was awarded the Carnegie Medal for nonfiction. He writes a bi-weekly opinion column for the New York Times.



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