The Big Burn by Timothy Egan

A Discussion Guide

Introduction

On the afternoon of August 20,

1910, a battering ram of wind
moved through the drought-
stricken national forests of
Washington, Idaho, and Montana,
whipping the hundreds of small
blazes burning across the forest
floor into a roasting inferno that
jumped from treetop to ridge as it
raged, destroying towns and
timber in the blink of an eye.
Forest rangers had assembled
nearly ten thousand men—
soldiers, 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.
In this epic story of an America outgrowing its manifest
destiny, Timothy Egan narrates the struggles of the
overmatched rangers against the implacable fire while also
drawing a dramatic portrait of president Teddy Roosevelt and
his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot, who did no less than create
the idea of public land as our national treasure and
conservation as a national value.

Discussion Points

1. This gripping account begins with the fire’s destruction of

Wallace, Idaho. What kinds of things make people late to the
evacuating train? What would you bring with you if you were
allowed only a case small enough to fit on your lap?
2. With so much animosity between Pinchot and Roosevelt’s
young Forest Service and the “robber baron” businessmen,
what ultimately brings people together to fight the Big Burn of
1910? How does Congress—still controlled by powerful
business interests—fail the rangers and citizens of the West
after the fire has finished raging?

3. Egan details the childhood and early careers of both Teddy

Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot in order to give readers a fuller
picture of why and how these men came to pioneer
conservation as a national value in America. In what ways do
Roosevelt’s experiences shape his politics? How do Pinchot’s
experiences influence his work as “Big G.P.” of the Forest
Service?

4. Roosevelt and Pinchot are very different types of men, and

yet they share a passion for the great outdoors. What do
Roosevelt and Pinchot have in common? How are they different
from one another?

5. Throughout the book, Egan reveals that some powerful men

whose hubris and greed would decide the fate of America’s
still-untamed West spend time in that region, while others
distance themselves both literally and figuratively. Discuss the
relationship these men have to the land they all but rule over
and the way Egan portrays them.

6. On page 112, Egan quotes Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

tribe as wondering, “Why are you in such a hurry?” He’s
referring to the rush of “manifest destiny,” with America’s
population exploding from colonies of 2.9 million people to an
ocean-to-ocean nation of 91 million. In the first decade of the
twentieth century alone, the populations of Idaho and
Washington doubled. Discuss the effect this rapid growth has
on the young nation—why are they in such a hurry? What does
it cost them—and us?

7. In many ways, the battle against the forest fires of 1910 is a

war of the disenfranchised. Identify the players and discuss
their roles in this epic disaster. Why do you think they answer
the call for labor when those with the most at stake—such as
the “idle men” of Wallace—do nothing?

8. Gifford Pinchot firmly believed that man could control forest

fires, though he’d never seen anything like the Big Burn of
1910 when he published his A Primer of Forestry in 1900.
What methods do the rangers and townsfolk use to try to
control the fires? What methods do they use to survive?

9. The aftermath of the Big Burn seems like one colossal

governmental failure, though some bright spots exist, such as
the sea change in many Americans’ opinions about the black
“buffalo soldiers” who became heroes in Wallace, Idaho. How
does Egan’s portrayal of this seminal moment in American
history make you feel? Did it change your mind about
anything, or teach you anything new?

10. William H. Taft is portrayed as a complicated man in this

book. He idolizes Roosevelt and yet fails to keep his promises
to him; on page 246, Egan describes how he publicly attacks
T.R. in an effort to save face, but retreats afterward to weep in
private. Do you feel any sympathy for Taft? Why or why not?

11. Ten days after the fires die down, infuriated by Taft’s
betrayal of his predecessor’s conservation efforts, Teddy
Roosevelt takes to the bully pulpit once more to pioneer a
“New Nationalism.” What does this term mean to him and to
his supporters? Discuss how some of these principles may still
be seen alive and well in today’s America and how others have
not quite taken hold.

12. In the final chapter of the book, Egan describes the

current landscape of what was once several national forests in
Montana, Idaho, and Washington. He shares how the Forest
Service still carries “the Pulaski” as their prized firefighting
tool, and how the great “Milwaukee Road” is now gone, its
tracks pulled up and sold for scrap. Towns like Avery, Taft, and
Grand Forks are now gone or reduced to wilderness outposts.
What effect does this chapter have on you, and what message
do you think the author hoped you would come away with?