Burned!

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

Even the title sounds cool, right? When I saw this as a $2 Kindle book deal, I knew I had to read it. I had been binging on books (hence the quick succession of blog posts), and I thought I would take a chance on something I wouldn't normally read. (And, as seems to fit a developing theme in the books I've chosen this summer, I learned after reading that there is a PBS documentary about this event, inspired in large part by the book.)

The subject of Timothy Egan's book is the Big Burn, also known as the Great Fire of 1910, which burned a swath of forest the size of my home state of Connecticut out west in Washington, Idaho, and Montana. It is said to be the largest wildfire in US history. However, the subject was really also the events that led to the creation of and "saving" of the national forests and US forest service. Ironically, the fire that destroyed so much national land was what rescued the conservation movement in America from a quick death because of special interests cutting funding and using loopholes in the law to log, mine, and otherwise pillage the land for profit.

So as interesting as the details of the fire and the people who both lived through it and tried to fight it

are, it is just as interesting to hear about the politics behind the event and the creation of the National Forests. I'm not a political buff, so I wasn't sure how I would like this book, but I was stunned by how much 1910 sounded like 2016. Reading about the games that the senators were playing, the big money of big energy buying off politicians, and the way rich men ran the nation (even if they seemed well-intentioned, as the author paints Teddy Roosevelt), I couldn't help but think about how little politics seems to have changed...well, except that our congress "acts" by not acting.

There were details Egan pulls together that stirred my conscience. For example, when Ed Pulaski, one of the forest rangers who saved many men--who was being denied pay because Congress was refusing to release money--asked for compensation because of the extent of the burns he suffered fighting the fire as ordered, I wanted to jump through the page and slap some of those men in power. Egan definitely rooted for the "little guys" in this, which was funny, as many of these little guys had grown up privileged and attended Yale. But anyway, the injustices that abounded before and after this event are not sugar-coated, and this makes the book both infuriating and satisfying.

Another notable detail that I enjoyed was the unit of "Buffalo Soldiers" who served more than honorably to save citizens and fight the fire. In the accounts Egan digs up, the reader hears about the prejudice these men face and how honorably they serve despite it all. Given that many of the white people living on the "frontier" at that point had not really seen black people, they only had prejudice to guide them. Satisfyingly, in the accounts following the fire, the white citizens acknowledge their bravery and their sacrifice. I really appreciated the inclusion of their story--and their heroism.

I only wish this book had a bit more to say about the negative side of Roosevelt. Its not to say I don't like the man--in fact, I knew so little about him that this book was a treat in that respect--but given the well-rounded portrait Egan paints of most of the men in the book, I felt the absence of "skeletons" in Teddy's closet to be notable. Likely it was simply beyond the scope of the book, but these missing details made it feel a bit one-sided.

I think the author did a nice job balancing the politics with the action; nonfiction can easily become as dry as the forests of the book if put in the wrong hands, but Egan was able to balance the banal with the unique and the sentimental. If someone is interested in learning about how wildfires work (and how to fight a fire), how the forest service started, how Teddy Roosevelt rose to power, or even how many people in power back in the day thought they could speak to ghosts, this book is for you. This is one of those books that you don't know you are interested in until you give it a shot, and I recommend you do just that.

Happy reading!