Buy New
 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$4.39 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
Fulfilled by Amazon

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
More Buying Choices
293 used & new from $0.46
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Young Men and Fire
 
 
See all product images
See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Look inside this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Young Men and Fire (Paperback)

~ Norman Maclean (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
List Price: $16.00
Price: $9.50 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $6.50 (41%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Thursday, February 11? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
49 new from $6.24 241 used from $0.46 3 collectible from $15.00

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover $13.57   $8.37 $0.13
Paperback $9.50   $6.24 $0.46
Audio, CD, Audiobook, Unabridged $18.96   $12.32 $12.31
Audio, Download Offsite Link $13.10 or less with new Audible membership

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition by Joel Snyder

Young Men and Fire + A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition
Price For Both: $17.90

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire

Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire

by John N. Maclean
4.3 out of 5 stars (46)  $10.19
A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition

A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition

by Joel Snyder
4.7 out of 5 stars (129)  $8.40
The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal

The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal

by John N. Maclean
4.3 out of 5 stars (15)  $11.20
The Norman Maclean Reader

The Norman Maclean Reader

by Norman MacLean
5.0 out of 5 stars (4)  $18.15
Jumping Fire: A Smokejumper's Memoir of Fighting Wildfire

Jumping Fire: A Smokejumper's Memoir of Fighting Wildfire

by Murry A. Taylor
4.6 out of 5 stars (56)  $11.20
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

On August 5, 1949, lightning came crashing down in the vast spruce forest above Seeley Lake, Montana, and touched off a roaring blaze. As every Westerner knows, lightning means fire, but the fire that raged through Mann Gulch that day was huge--the sort that occurs only every few decades. A battery of paratrooper-firefighters, many of them fresh veterans of World War II, had been anticipating it, and even looking forward to the chance to fight a great fire. Before the day ended thirteen of those smokejumpers lay dead, their charred remains evidence that something had gone terribly wrong. Norman Maclean gives a thorough account of the incident in language not meant for the squeamish: "Burning to death on a mountainside is dying at least three times ... first, considerably ahead of the fire, you reach the verge of death in your boots and your legs; next, as you fail, you sink back in the region of strange gases and red and blue darts where there is no oxygen and here you die in your lungs; then you sink in prayer into the main fire that consumes." After August 1949, he notes, the Forest Service came to recognize that not all fires need to be fought and that fire benefits most forest ecosystems.

From Publishers Weekly

On Aug. 5, 1949, 16 Forest Service smoke jumpers landed at a fire in remote Mann Gulch, Mont. Within an hour, 13 were dead or irrevocably burned, caught in a "blowup"--a rare explosion of wind and flame. The late Maclean, author of the acclaimed A River Runs Through It , grew up in western Montana and worked for the Forest Service in his youth. He visited the site of the blowup; for the next quarter century, the tragedy haunted him. In 1976 he began a serious study of the fire, one that occupied the last 14 years of his life. He enlisted the aid of fire experts, survivors, friends in the Forest Service and reams of official documents. The result is an engrossing account of human fallibility and natural violence. The tragedy was a watershed in Forest Service training--knowledge and techniques have since been improving--and this work will interest Maclean's many admirers. Photos not seen by PW. 30,000 first printing.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 301 pages
  • Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (November 15, 1993)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0226500624
  • ISBN-13: 978-0226500621
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,838 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #2 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( M ) > Maclean, Norman
    #12 in  Books > Outdoors & Nature > Environment > Natural Disasters
    #12 in  Books > Outdoors & Nature > Plants > Trees

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Norman MacLean
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Norman MacLean Page
Look Inside This Book
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover
Citations (learn more)
100 books cite this book:
See all 100 books citing this book

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(5)
(3)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
Agree with these tags?

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

86 Reviews
5 star:
 (49)
4 star:
 (26)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (86 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My single favorite work of non-fiction, February 21, 2001
By Hugo Schwyzer (Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I picked up this book by chance, captivated by the title and by the jacket. Since I first read it seven years or so ago, I have returned to it time and time and time again. (Indeed, I am using sections of it in a course I will be teaching soon on men and masculinity).

The publishing world has seen a plethora of non-fiction books on tragedies and natural disasters in recent years, with "The Perfect Storm" and "Into Thin Air" perhaps the most successful. But those two bestsellers pale in comparison with the subtlety, the grace, and the sheer power of Maclean's story of discovering what happened to a dozen young firejumpers on a steep Montana hillside many years ago. In the final fifty pages, as remembrances of survivors mix with a technical discussion of wind and flames, Maclean's prose is so vivid, so pure, so unadornedly beautiful that I had to put the book down three or four times because my eyes were filling with tears. 'Tis a rare work of non-fiction that can do that!

I am a deeply urban person. I know nothing of forestry or firefighting. I have never been to Montana. And I was gripped by this book from start to finish, even as Maclean skilfully avoids even the slightest shred of bathos or melodrama. It is a marvelous meditation on heroism and death, and on masculinity itself, and well, well worth the read.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A unique and haunting story of a tragedy and a quest., March 26, 1999
By alan posner "romano" (East Lansing, MI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Young Men and Fire (Hardcover)
When this book was reviewed on the front page of the "New York Times Book Review," I noted the subject and thought it would not be my cup of tea. The review changed my mind and it was only a moment from the time I finished it to being on the way to the bookstore to get the book and read it immediately. I was not disappointed. This is certainly one of the two or three best books I have ever read. Obviously, the quality of the writing is important. But, so, too, is the fact that this is simultaneously the story of a particular event in a particular time, and the quest of an aging man to resolve in his own mind what happened forty years before to young men fighting a fire in a place near where the author himself, as a youth, used to fight fires. I was more interested in the author's physical and mental determination; a colleague to whom I recommended the book was more interested in the sections that discuss the science of fire and fire-fighting. A rereading will probably lead to a fascination with some other element in the book. But, then, that is probably one of the signs of a great text. Since reading this book, I have been on the look-out for another book of this kind. So far, I have not found one. At times, I have seen this book linked to works that discuss the death of mountain climbers and the like. But MacLean did not write that kind of book. And as far as I can tell, no one has written another book like his. Not finding another book like this is existentially exhilerating. But, for a reader, there is also regret.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put it down!, September 4, 1999
By Robert E. Morehouse (Coventry, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
I don't do much reading, but this book kept me captivated from the moment I picked it up. Books based on true stories can be dry and uninteresting; however, MacLean combines fact, speculation, and emotion in a way that keeps the reader clamoring for more. I was inspired to read "Young Men and Fire" after hearing Richard Shindell sing James Keelaghan's song, "Cold Missouri Waters" (based on MacLean's book) on the "Cry Cry Cry" CD. After reading this book, I feel compelled to visit the 13 crosses marking the tragic ending for those men on that Mann Gulch hillside.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Emotionally and mentally gripping.
This book grabs you, by the heart as well as the mind. I found myself emotionally touched by the stories of those caught in the flames or narrowly escaping them. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Matthew Jacobs

4.0 out of 5 stars Gift
I purchased this book as a gift and have not yet had a chance to read it. However, the book was in very good condition upon arrival.
Published 4 months ago by D. A. Rohrbaugh

4.0 out of 5 stars Good and (almost) great
Although this book at times comes close to greatness, it never quite gets there. The Mann Gulch Fire, which resulted in the deaths of 12 smokejumpers (firefighters who parachute... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Bruddy Dahl

4.0 out of 5 stars Non-Fiction, but Literature Nontheless - A Look at Living and Dying
This book is a study by Norman Maclean and associates on the circumstances and details of the Mann Gulch disaster of 1949 where all but three USFS Smokejumpers died in a "blowup"... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Adlib-ertarian

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic
Reading this book is as close to being there as we will ever get - and Norman Maclean is the perfect author to combine factual reporting with the emotional conflicts of men facing... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Carol Collins

5.0 out of 5 stars An obsession that will stay in your mind forever
One of those rare books that you will remember intensively for months after reading it.
Published 12 months ago by Alberto Campos

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent
In an age when everything seems to lean toward the superficial, Norman Maclean's "Young Men and Fire" is a real miracle of writing: depth, honesty, intelligence, clarity,... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Maxie

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant book about a legendary forest fire
This is Mr. Maclean's last book and it is a brilliantly written and thoroughly researched, illuminating and fascinating work of literary art. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Jett Cisco

5.0 out of 5 stars A great story
I loved this book. The detail and analysis resulted from decades of research and Maclean is a terrific writer. I love the piece-by-piece, methodical dissection of the story. Read more
Published 17 months ago by F. Whitby

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have
This is the quintessential non-fiction account of Mann Gulch. It creates the foundation of our study of wild fire behavior. I could not turn the pages fast enough. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Matt Brown

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:































i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
Ad
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.