Rating: 
Summary: Still Learning
Review: Great reporting, decent literature although granted, few of us will ever match his father.
I know/knew many of the principals on this stage and what struck me was how well he captured them. Over and over, I'd read of another friend and easily picture them saying or doing what was in print, but now became very real.
I'm amazed by how much I missed after the official report and talking with some of those that were there. Mr. MacLean's book has rounded my education well. My oldest started fire fighting four years ago and I required reading of the report and this book so that he would understand the multiple levels that mistakes are made at.
To those that complain about faultfinding; how much fault has been found with "Fire on the Mountain"? Have there been any lawsuits, settlements or retractions? If none, then please list flaws so we can judge the validity of disputed items.
The only major flaw I saw in this book was failure to deal aggressively with the two jumpers who were not carrying fire shelters. Should have been at least a few pages devoted to that.
There is a huge reason for this book. The failing of management to report on and effectively deal with management's errors. This book fills part of that void.
Mr. MacLean, would you please do a book on Los Alamos and the Cerro Grande Fire? I was there for a couple weeks. The mistakes of the prescribed burn that got away would only be an appetizer to leads us to the corruption/incompetence of the Lab. That Lab is a far more important issue than wildland fire safety.
Whatever else, thank you for this book.
Rating: 
Summary: thorough... but sloppy and accusational
Review: As a former smokejumper and a friend of many in this book, I was again unimpressed by a maclean's writing. 'Tabloid' would be too condemning, yet in this popular account of the 1996 wildfirefighter fatalities the underlying provocative and accusational tone is certainly annoying; the careless writing unfortunate. Following in the footsteps of his father's rambling bestseller 'young men and fire', i fear that perhaps the literature of this heroic profession and its instructive tragedies is predestined to be simultaneously popularized and mistreated by generations of macleans? But as his father's featured pinpoint detail, john's book has its strengths: he very squarely captures the spirit of modern wildfirefighting: a battle often not against nature as much as organizing to defeat the complexity of large bureaucracies and the chaos they spawn. This account traces the tragic consequences when people communicate poorly, engage in petty organizational squabbles, flaunt fundamental rules, and fail to act on their instincts. 'fire on the mountain' embodies the spirit of sloppiness that created such a tragedy; too bad it doesn't get us to higher ground.
If you're interested in the wildfirefighters' life, or smokejumping, skip the goofy maclean attempts and go straight to Murray Taylor's excellent "Jumping Fire".
Rating:
Summary: The blame game.
Review: As an former firefighter for the Grand junction district during the 1994 fire season, I can attest to how bad it really was that month. However, Mr. Maclean trying to fill the footsteps of his father, failed miserably. Norm Maclean wrote Young men and fire and other books. In young men and fire, there was a mystery, there was blame to fix to people for what happened. However in John Macleans mind, Storm King had the same mystery and blame to be dealt out. In this book, he blames everybody. He doles out the blame and spares no one. I think that it is mighty lame to place blame on the dead jumpers and shots. I feel that he imposed his own witch hunt. The book was entertaining enough. I have thought of Storm King every day since then. Just because, it could've been any of us. As an Airborne Infantryman in the Army, I know the old axiom, to live by the sword is to die by the sword. Every firefighter that I have ever known has faced that very axiom. Firefighting is inherently dangerous. As equally as dangerous as warfare. If those guys had no conception of the risks involved, they should'nt have been on that mountain. I have my own beliefs on what went down and it involves ego and god. And that is that. Winslow Robertson and Pete Blume took the brunt of Macleans blame. It's easy to blame from you cusshy silver spooned New York existance. Pete and Winslow are dynamic, caring individuals and would never put anyone under their command in harms way. Read this book. Make your own mind up about Storm King. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security that Maclean knows what the hell he is talking about.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Being the wife of a wildland firefighter, I found this book to be a depiction of my worse nightmare. However, the book is really awesome. The chronology is excellent. It makes you feel as if you are right there experiencing it with the firefighters. Mr. McClean has a wonderful way to make you feel as if you knew the people involved and are not just reading about them. He also lets you know his sources and doesn't place blame on anyone. He just tells the stories(many people, many stories) as they were told to him.
Rating:
Summary: Get ready to remember Storm King Mountain -- always
Review: Books of adventure, tragedy and heroes are sometimes said to offer the reader escape. "Fire on the Mountain" won't let that happen. From a place few of us know, through an event we can barely imagine via the lives of fourteen people most of us never have met, John Maclean's account of an historic tragedy is not something one has to try to remember. Storm King Mountain and fire join Titantic and iceberg; indelible. The book's last words are "We will never forget". That we won't, or can't, is a tribute to the spirit and sacrifice of the men and women we encounter in this unique book as well as to the research skills and literary talents of the author who honors them with perhaps the most fitting and enduring of many monuments and memorials -- the truth.
Rating:
Summary: Get ready to remember Storm King Mountain -- always
Review: Books of adventure, tragedy and heroes are sometimes said to offer the reader escape. "Fire on the Mountain" won't let that happen. From a place few of us know, through an event we can barely imagine via the lives of fourteen people most of us never have met, John Maclean's account of an historic tragedy is not something one has to try to remember. Storm King Mountain and fire join Titantic and iceberg; indelible. The book's last words are "We will never forget". That we won't, or can't, is a tribute to the spirit and sacrifice of the men and women we encounter in this unique book as well as to the research skills and literary talents of the author who honors them with perhaps the most fitting and enduring of many monuments and memorials -- the truth.
Rating:
Summary: fire on the mountain
Review: Comparing this work to that of his father's in unfair. Norman Maclean wrote with the introspective style of a novelist while John Maclean writes with the who, what, when,where,& why of a seasoned journalist. FIRE ON THE MOUNTIAN is a well researched, straight forward, and hard hitting which reflects John Maclean's life as a highly regarded newspaper reporter. This book is a great read and should appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. It should also be required reading for every wildlands firefighter in the country.
Rating:
Summary: fire on the mountain
Review: Comparing this work to that of his father's in unfair. Norman Maclean wrote with the introspective style of a novelist while John Maclean writes with the who, what, when,where,& why of a seasoned journalist. FIRE ON THE MOUNTIAN is a well researched, straight forward, and hard hitting which reflects John Maclean's life as a highly regarded newspaper reporter. This book is a great read and should appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. It should also be required reading for every wildlands firefighter in the country.
Rating: 
Summary: Fire on the Mountain
Review: Fire on the Mountain is a very well-written book. I would reccomend that all wildland firefighters read this book. The author was exceptional is his writing, the book flowed through the accounts of the fire in an organized fashion. There is much to be learned from this book, one that is worth reading again and again. It was unfortunate that this tragedy occured but on the other hand it can be used as a tool for learning.
Rating:
Summary: A Firefighter's View...
Review: First of all, to qualify myself, I am an engineer that graduated from Montana State University in Dec 2000, and paid for most of my education by working summers in Montana as a U.S. Forest Service Firefighter. I have been on Type 1 and Type 2 hand crews, served time on a helitack crew, been an engine slug, and injured myself beyond repair as a Rookie Smokejumper in Missoula, Montana, and traveled the length and breadth of Western North America fighting wildfires. I may not have as many qualifications as some secret squirrels, but I almost certainly have less ego and better attitude.In my opinion, this is a very good book, but must be read with the offical government report published in 1994 and the Fire Chonology Report published by the Fire Research Lab of Missoula in 1999, under the heading of "Research Paper RMRS-RP-9, Fire Behavior Associated with the 1994 South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain, Colorado" This is available online at www.fs.fed.us/rm/. There is much that I now know that I was afraid to ask before. Much of what I had known has been from the offical report published in 1994, and from the little bit that I have heard in discussions around campfires. I personally know more than a few jumpers and have many as close, personal friends, and have been on fires with some of those who were survivors of Storm King, but have been loath to ask them about the incident, not knowing how deep or painful the scar might be. So, this book serves for me, as I am sure it will serve for other Wildland Firefighters, as "The Offical View From Ground Zero", the Author having done the painful task of asking the painful questions. Between this very important book and the "Fire Behavior Chronology Report", many of my opinions and perspectives have changed, very many questions have been answered, and more questions have arisen. Hopefully, these questions, in time, will be answered as well. As a Forest Service Firefighter who had intentions of becoming a jumper, but washed due to injuries, MacLean's book, as his father's, shall always be near and dear to my heart. I find great satisfaction that John MacLean has taken up his father's role as the powerful, authoritive, wise, and compassionate voice of the "Protector of the Troops", probing into places where we cannot go and asking questions that we dare not ask, and letting us, the "family" of Wildland Firefighters, know what he has found in as fair and unbiased a manner as anyone could. The book also made me more aware of the Champions throughout various Federal and State Agencies who have fought valiantly to protect some shred of integrity of the Seasonal Wildland Firefighter, and not play the "Blame Game" as we all have seen happen so often when things go wrong and a Government agency is involved. I feel deep gratitude toward Dick Mangan, Ted Putnum and all the others, too numerous to mention here, who have stood their ground and risked their careers for what was right. This is not his father's book, nor is it his father's writing style, if you have read Norman Maclean's "Young Men and Fire", which tells the story of a parallel incident where 13 Smokejumpers died in 1949, you will see that his father's book is more literary and also deals with his own struggle to find meaning in the deaths of the 13 and also ernestly searches for the meaning of life itself. John's book is much more a reporter's story-- clinical and forensic in nature, and yet still shows its human side with subtle skill. Both books have their advantages and drawbacks, and comparing the two against each other is like comparing apples and oranges. Overall, this is a very good book in the realm of non-fiction story telling, and is well worth the price, the time and the effort.
|
