Young Men and Fire

· University of Chicago Press
4.2
8 reviews
Ebook
332
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

National Book Critics Circle Award Winner: "The terrifying story of the worst disaster in the history of the US Forest Service's elite Smokejumpers." — Kirkus Reviews
A devastating and lyrical work of nonfiction, Young Men and Fire describes the events of August 5, 1949, when a crew of fifteen of the US Forest Service's elite airborne firefighters, the Smokejumpers, stepped into the sky above a remote forest fire in the Montana wilderness. Two hours after their jump, all but three of the men were dead or mortally burned. Haunted by these deaths for forty years, Norman Maclean puts together the scattered pieces of the Mann Gulch tragedy in this extraordinary book.
Alongside Maclean's now-canonical A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Young Men and Fire is recognized today as a classic of the American West. This edition of Maclean's later triumph—the last book he would write—includes a powerful new foreword by Timothy Egan, author of The Big Burn and The Worst Hard Time. As moving and profound as when it was first published, Young Men and Fire honors the literary legacy of a man who gave voice to an essential corner of the American soul.
"A moving account of humanity, nature, and the perseverance of the human spirit." — Library Journal
"Haunting." — The Wall Street Journal
"Engrossing." — Publishers Weekly

Ratings and reviews

4.2
8 reviews
steve punko
January 7, 2023
good read
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About the author

Norman Maclean (1902–90), woodsman, scholar, teacher, and storyteller, grew up in and around Missoula, Montana, and worked for many years in logging camps and for the United States Forest Service before beginning his academic career. He was the William Rainey Harper Professor of English at the University of Chicago until 1973.

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