A review by hmcgivney
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan

5.0

This book was so well written. The part about the beginnings of the forest service were a little bit drier, but necessary to understand the complete devastation of this 36 hour big burn that destroyed 3 million acres of forest. I was pretty amazed with the story of Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, two millionaires that were considered by many to be traitors to their class because they campaigned for the rights of the little guy and for preserving public land for future generations instead of giving in to the short term economic interests of a few powerful men.

My heart really went out to the firefighters who sacrificed so much and then got little compensation from the government for trying to battle the impossible.