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kayscr33klibrarian 's review for:
Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894
by Daniel James Brown
In September 1894 a fire hit Hinckley, Minnesota and her neighboring communities. The author's grandfather was a child at that time and lived through the fire. Brown did a great job of giving a history of the area, the time, and some of the families who settled in Hinckley, Minnesota. As the story progressed there was a lot of scientific information given to help the readers understand why the fire did as much damage as it did and even how the weather contributed to it. I learned that not all fires are alike, nor sadly are the various ways to die by fire.
I listened to the audiobook version and I really had trouble keeping all of the characters straight but someone at bookclub pointed out that this was very representational of the chaos of the fire. The author is very graphic about the fire and it was hard to get though at times. I had to stop listening to it at night as I was playing out various scenarios over and over in my mind of how to escape if a fire were ever in my city.
Overall I found the book really fascinating. There is a train trying to outrun the fire, an amazing African American train worker who kept a cool head and was able to use it to save people, and various ways of trying to survive the fire with mixed results. It was hard to put down. The one thing that was missing was more information on how many people died as a result of their burns after the fire. The author talks about what happens in the body after severe burns and even what happens when bacteria gets into the body from the very water that saved some of the people.
This tragedy did help lead to better regulations for cutting down timber.
I listened to the audiobook version and I really had trouble keeping all of the characters straight but someone at bookclub pointed out that this was very representational of the chaos of the fire. The author is very graphic about the fire and it was hard to get though at times. I had to stop listening to it at night as I was playing out various scenarios over and over in my mind of how to escape if a fire were ever in my city.
Overall I found the book really fascinating. There is a train trying to outrun the fire, an amazing African American train worker who kept a cool head and was able to use it to save people, and various ways of trying to survive the fire with mixed results. It was hard to put down. The one thing that was missing was more information on how many people died as a result of their burns after the fire. The author talks about what happens in the body after severe burns and even what happens when bacteria gets into the body from the very water that saved some of the people.
This tragedy did help lead to better regulations for cutting down timber.