In March, my Social Studies book club will be making selections for the next year's books. And this is my pick. In fact, I intend to lead a full-scale campaign for this one to be chosen because it sort of puts the "A" in Awesome.
Timothy Egan's The Big Burn tells the story of the beginnings of the National Forest Service and the fire that "saved" its very existence. Did you know Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and John Muir basically started the entire conservation movement in the United States? Did you know a lot of people were against conservation and the National Forest Service? Did you know that in 1910 hundreds of people died or were injured in a crazy giant wildfire that wiped out most of the Lolo National Forest in Idaho? Did you know that Roosevelt's chief forrester, Gifford Pinchot, maintained a spiritual love affair with a dead woman for most of his life? You could learn all this, and more!, if you read Egan's book!!
Egan's writing style is fast and fluid--reminding me a lot of David McCullough's narrative style; he includes a lot of interesting details that add character and life to the story. The historical tale itself is amazing and much of it seems like the stuff of movies--but its all true! And its crazy to me--a history teacher--that I had never even heard of most of this stuff before I picked up the book. And really, you should pick up the book. Fabulous.
A
P.S. What do you think? Will I convince the others to make this one of the book club picks?
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Have you read Plan B 3.0? It also focuses on environmentalism. I think you'd enjoy it.
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