Join the Adult Book Group discussion of The Big Burn by Timothy Egan even if you haven't finished reading the book! We will meet from 7-8pm on Wednesday evening July 24.

A dramatic account of the worst forest fire in American history.

On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forest of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno. 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.

Timothy Egan narrates the struggles of the overmatched ranges against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force. Equally dramatic is the larger story he tells of outsize president Teddy Roosevelt ad 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.

Print copies are available at library and ebook and audiobook are on Libby.

Event Info

Nov 23, 2024, 9 AM to 1 PM

Nov 23, 2024, 12 to 4 PM

Nov 24, 2024, 5 to 7 PM