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Summary: an unfinished masterpiece
Review: Norman Maclean, a professor of English at the University of Chicago, was obsessed with two events: one was Custer's Last Stand, and the other was the Mann Gulch fire, the subject of this haunting book published posthumously.You can tell that Maclean hadn't finished writing--sections are repeated now and then, and as a whole the work is formless. Nevertheless, what you'll find between the covers of this volume will haunt you: it is about hubris, fate, death and tragedy. Maclean seems to feel so acutely the fear in the men's eyes as they burned to death. Making sense of this tragedy becomes a miniature study of the meaning of life and the meaning of death. The project must have been especially poignant given Maclean's own failing health as he tried to finish this work. Even in its rough form, this book is a masterpiece.
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Summary: This is a really interesting book!
Review: Norman Maclean investigates the unresolved details that lead up to this fatal fire and pieces together this amazing account of one of this countries deadliest forest fires. Slow beginning, but impossible to put down once you get into the story. Highly recommended.
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Summary: A fantastic and inspiring story of modern heroism!
Review: The most important aspect of Norman Maclean's work, "Young Men And Fire," has absolutely nothing to do with the Mann Gulch fire. At the core of this story is a perfect example of modern heroism, as well as an author's inspiring quest to not only lend these fine young men the credit they deserve, but in the process find himself.
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Summary: A unique and haunting story of a tragedy and a quest.
Review: When this book was reviewed on the front page of the "New York Times Book Review," I noted the subject and thought it would not be my cup of tea. The review changed my mind and it was only a moment from the time I finished it to being on the way to the bookstore to get the book and read it immediately. I was not disappointed. This is certainly one of the two or three best books I have ever read. Obviously, the quality of the writing is important. But, so, too, is the fact that this is simultaneously the story of a particular event in a particular time, and the quest of an aging man to resolve in his own mind what happened forty years before to young men fighting a fire in a place near where the author himself, as a youth, used to fight fires. I was more interested in the author's physical and mental determination; a colleague to whom I recommended the book was more interested in the sections that discuss the science of fire and fire-fighting. A rereading will probably lead to a fascination with some other element in the book. But, then, that is probably one of the signs of a great text. Since reading this book, I have been on the look-out for another book of this kind. So far, I have not found one. At times, I have seen this book linked to works that discuss the death of mountain climbers and the like. But MacLean did not write that kind of book. And as far as I can tell, no one has written another book like his. Not finding another book like this is existentially exhilerating. But, for a reader, there is also regret.
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Summary: A great cross-over between history and fiction
Review: My husband read this book a few years ago when it was first plublished. At the time I wasn't much interested in what appeared to me to be a story about fighting a fire, probably filled with alot of facts I couldn't understand. It was not until I read an article about MacLean and how he did not publish (or complete for that matter)any of his works until he was in his 70's that I became curious about him. I first read "A River Runs Through It, then went down to our basement to dig out "Young Men and Fire" Lately I have developed the greatest admiration for those writers who can bridge the gap between non-fiction and fiction. My favorite writer to do this was Mari Sandoz, but MacLean has done it also. This is not the same as historical fiction, which makes up a story based loosely on fact. This is a style the majority of which is based on known facts, but where we cannot possibly know the facts, such as a man's thoughts in the last moments before his death, the author uses, not imagination, but experience and research to fill in these gaps credibly. While I was correct in my assumption that this book would have alot of information I didn't understand, it took nothing away from it for me. All I can say is, I wish MacLean had started his writing sooner, so that I would have had alot more of his work to read!
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Summary: Their Courage and Battle Told Three Decades Later
Review: Norman Maclean captivates with the story of his investigation of the Mann Gulch Fire that killed a group of young Smokejumpers in 1949. His method of investigation and storytelling captivates the reader, making it difficult to put down. A must read for outdoors adventurers.
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Summary: One of the best books that I have ever read! Honestly!
Review: Yong Men and Fire is one of the best books that I have ever read. Norman Maclean brings to life the struggles that we endure during and after a tragety. The struggles of the dead, the survivors, the public and the ones closest to the tragety. And the ones that search for the real truth, atleast as close to it as we can get. A truely wonderful book that deserves to be read.
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Summary: an excellent account of the mann gulch tragedy
Review: maclean does any excellent job telling the horrid story of the smokejumpers in young men and fire. i do believe that it is more a tale of events than a story with plot. compared to his other book, a river runs through it, young men and fire does not compare to the story of fishing in montana. young men and fire is more an account than a story like maclean's previous novel. it's good, but can drag at points.
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Summary: "Does anyone know where the love of God goes . . ."
Review: How would you run from a wall of fire chasing you up a hillside? Would you slog straight up the hill because that is the most direct route to the safety of the other side? Or would you run at an angle towards the top because you can move faster that way, and going somewhere -- anywhere but DOWN -- seems especially important just then? Would you take precious seconds to shed your heavy equipment so you can run faster? When the fire catches you, do you scream? That is what this wonderful, and I think haunting, book is about. How a handful of regular joes died on a regular hillside in a couple of regular minutes. As other reviewers have noted, there is much here about firefighting history and techniques, ecology, and whatnot. And as satisfying as that is, it all spirals-down to that nugget of time when the flames "turn the minutes to hours". It's like what Gordon Lightfoot did with "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (which I've been quoting). Or like examining in great detail what transpired during the last three minutes in the passenger cabin of an airliner diving into the sea. It's not a tragedy. It's a moment of truth that haunts you. I read it four years ago and will never forget it.
Rating:
Summary: Solid
Review: Book can be sectioned pretty well. MacLean is brilliant in painting a portrait of the type of tough, intelligent men who are the smokejumpers. His telling of the tale of the disaster is gripping and detailed just right. By not being maudlin about the young men's deaths, a more dignified grief is achieved. The manly, uncomplaining lingering deaths of Sylvia and Hellman will bring tears to the meanest of men. MacLean is brilliant in piecing together why these men met their disasterous fate and why three of them were to survive. MacLean gets a little plodding at book's end when he tries to explain fire science-important work, to be sure, but dull to the layman.
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