Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910 (Paperback)

by Stephen (Author), Pyne (Author), Parker (Editor), Beth (Editor)
Key Phrases: cooperative fire protection, mountains roared, pulaski tool, Forest Service, Big Blowup, Will Morris (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Following last summer's wildfires and debate over "controlled burning," Pyne, author of the five-volume Cycle of Fire and the much-acclaimed How the Canyon Became Grand, has become one of the most widely consulted experts on American fire policy. While this book's focus is on fires that raged 91 years ago in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, it addresses such perennial questions as whether there can be a "good" forest fire and the place of fire in healthy forest ecology. Fighting the 1910 Great Fires ignited variously by lightning, abandoned campfires and "candle-sized flames sparked by railroads" cost many lives and injured hundreds. An continuing program of human-controlled "light burning" might have been better, but infighting in scientific forestry circles (compounded by political and bureaucratic sniping) silenced this minority position. Teddy Roosevelt was "bully" on conservation and his five-year-old Forest Service was devoutly antifire. Fire wasn't seen as a natural part of the forest's life cycle it was the enemy and it had to be stopped, no matter how many lives it cost. Pyne builds his case with a dense, month-by-month chronology. At his best with a hard-luck or disaster story, he overwrites his polemic sections shamelessly, occasionally lapsing into awkward similes (firefighters crowded into a cave like "oats in a feedbag"). Maps make the fire's geography easier to follow, while the photo inset gives a period flavor to the tale. (May 7)Forecast: A sharp dust jacket and an author tour in the West, combined with Pyne's eminence in his field, will draw attention to this book, but his generally lifeless prose won't spark major sales.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Pyne (How the Canyon Became Grand; Arizona State Univ.) offers a narrative of the catastrophic wildland fires of 1910 and skillfully describes the horrors and fears they caused. Most important, the author places the 1910 fires in the cultural and political context of their time. At the time, America was passing from a rural to an urban society, industrial growth abounded, and progressive politicians included conservation in their agenda of reforms. People and agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, were challenged to develop firefighting policies and to study the beneficial uses of fires. This is also a story of rangers, soldiers, bureaucrats, settlers, railroads, and heroes. Pyne's book joins Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire (LJ 8/92) and Carl Johnson's Fire on the Mountain (LJ 10/1/94) as a classic study of wildland fires; recommended for all libraries. Patricia Ann Owens, Wabash Valley Coll., Carmel, IL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Mountain Press Publishing Company (March 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878425446
• ISBN-13: 978-0878425440
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #269,832 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Despite dense prose, still a good book., July 11, 2002

By	Damon Jasperson (Overland Park, Kansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910 (Paperback)

Although some of the other reviewers disagree, Pyne has done a fantastic job of pulling together many diverse strands of primary materials to make a compelling narrative. Not only does Pyne tell the stories of individual firefighters on the line, but he interweaves larger political and environmental issues as well. Really, this is a model work as far as coordinating the "big picture" with the details. Readers of this work will learn about bureaucratic infighting in the early 1900's, competing forestry theories, the physics of how fires actually work, as well as slices of social history here and there. Pyne's greatest weakness in this book is that he tends to be too wordy and a bit too flamboyant with imagery. If you can overlook that and can see the big picture Pyne is painting, the book will draw you in.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite an interesting read, August 10, 2001

By	Kurt A. Johnson (Marseilles, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910 (Hardcover)

In 1910, the newly formed Forest Service faced its greatest threat, a series of large fires burning in Idaho's panhandle. Mobilizing all its resources, and even calling on the Army for help, the Service began to fight the fires. However, things went from bad to very much worse when a sudden wind-storm (producing no rain) fanned the fires into a firestorm! An unknown number of people died, and many acres of private and national forest burned. In this story, there are heroes and cowards, self-promoters and self-sacrificers.

Professor Pyne does an excellent job of explaining first the history of the Forest Service and forest-fire fighting, and then covers the actual events of the firestorm in a manner that leaves you on the edge of your seat. Finally, the aftereffects are covered in an in-depth manner. This book is quite interesting, bringing the story of that tragic year right into my life. I really enjoyed reading this book, and think that you will, too.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Heavy Plowing, August 24, 2001

By	Dennis Ladd "dladd" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910 (Hardcover)

This book could be some much more readable with, perhaps, an editor and another draft. The author has to juggle a lot of details - historical, political, social, biographical and statistical - but does so in an ungraceful confusing manner. The writing at times is distractingly florid. I compare this to Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas that handles a wealth of period detail with grace and a simplicity and directness of language that sweeps you along. I was very disappointed given the natural drama of the story.