Author: George Consider HalePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fires
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
History of the World's Greatest Fires
Author: George Consider HalePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fires
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
Fighting Fire!
Author: Michael L. CooperPublisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0805097147
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Book Description
From colonial times to the modern day, two things have remained constant in American history: the destructive power of fires and the bravery of those who fight them. Fighting Fire! brings to life ten of the deadliest infernos this nation has ever endured: the great fires of Boston, New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and San Francisco, the disasters of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the General Slocum, and the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, the wildfire of Witch Creek in San Diego County, and the catastrophe of 9/11. Each blaze led to new firefighting techniques and technologies, yet the struggle against fires continues to this day. With historical images and a fast-paced text, this is both an exciting look at firefighting history and a celebration of the human spirit.
World Fire
Author: Stephen J. PynePublisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295805242
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400
Book Description
Back in PrintWorld Fire is the story of how fire and humans have coevolved. The two are inseparable, and together they have repeatedly remade the planet.“Pyne considers the evolution of fire in such diverse regions as Australia, Africa, Brazil, Sweden, Greece, Iberia, Russia, and India and then ponders Antarctica, the land without fire. As he examines changing techniques for and attitudes toward fire control, Pyne challenges our concepts of nature and wilderness and explains why the study and management of fire have tremendous environmental, cultural, and political implications.”—Booklist“A sweeping historical treatise that examines our world’s love/hate relationship with conflagration. His engrossing ideas leave bright embers in the memory.”—Outside
The Deadliest Fires Then and Now (The Deadliest #3, Scholastic Focus)
Author: Deborah HopkinsonPublisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 1338360248
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 176
Book Description
Perfect for fans of I Survived and the Who Was series, and packed with graphics, photos, and facts for curious minds, this is a gripping look at the deadliest fires in American history. As the sun sank over the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, one warm October night in 1871, a smoky haze hung in the dry air. There had been little rain, and small fires had been rolling through town continuously since the Summer. For weeks the people had tried to protect their homes and businesses from fire. But they could not protect themselves from what would culminate in the deadliest fire in American history. As industrialization surged across the country, and Westward colonization leveled forests to build cities, fires became a mainstay in American life. And as populations grew, so too did the human toll that fire could exact. Through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Americans searched for new and innovative ways to combat the threat of fire. And with climate change threatening to set the whole world aflame, we are once again in a fight for our planet’s future. Through the eyes of scientists, witnesses, and survivors of terrible fires alike, Sibert Honor author Deborah Hopkinson brings the horrific history of deadly fires to life, tracing a line from the Peshtigo and Great Chicago fires of 1871 to the wildfires raging in the western United States today. Filled with more than 50 period photographs and illustrations, facts, and pull-out boxes for eager nonfiction readers.
Year of the Fires
Author: Stephen J. PynePublisher: Viking Adult
ISBN: 9780670899906
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
"1910 was America's millennial year of fire. That summer, American nature and American society collided with tectonic force as western wildfires scorched millions of acres, darkened skies in New England, and deposited soot on the ice of Greenland. Farms, mining camps, and rail towns cracked and burned. A survivor said that the towering flames raged with the sound of a thousand trains rushing over a thousand steel trestles. As one ranger put it, the mountains roared." "Stephen Pyne explains how wildland fires happen and how they are fought, how forests are created then re-created in cycles of burning, and what happens to a landscape when roads, railways, mining camps, logging, and national parks appear. The action distills into a two-day crisis, the Big Blowup of August 20-21, when the fires tripled in size, and focuses in particular on the heroics of Ranger Ed Pulaski, who held his panicked crew at gunpoint in a mine tunnel while the firestorm raged outside." "Pyne brings that year to life through the experiences and words of the rangers, soldiers, politicians, bureaucrats, scientists, and civilians who faced the fires, fought the flames, and were forever scarred by them. It was the first and greatest test of the five-year-old Forest Service. Yet even as seventy-eight fire-fighters perished, a national debate raged about policy, and especially about the relative merits of firefighting versus fire lighting."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Fire
Author: Stephen J. PynePublisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 029574619X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
Over vast expanses of time, fire and humanity have interacted to expand the domain of each, transforming the earth and what it means to be human. In this concise yet wide-ranging book, Stephen J. Pyne—named by Science magazine as “the world’s leading authority on the history of fire”—explores the surprising dynamics of fire before humans, fire and human origins, aboriginal economies of hunting and foraging, agricultural and pastoral uses of fire, fire ceremonies, fire as an idea and a technology, and industrial fire. In this revised and expanded edition, Pyne looks to the future of fire as a constant, defining presence on Earth. A new chapter explores the importance of fire in the twenty-first century, with special attention to its role in the Anthropocene, or what he posits might equally be called the Pyrocene.
Books on Fire
Author: Lucien X. PolastronPublisher: Lucien X. POLASTRON
ISBN: 9781594771675
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 396
Book Description
Almost as old as the idea of the library is the urge to destroy it. Author Lucien X. Polastron traces the history of this destruction, examining the causes for these disasters, the treasures that have been lost, and where the surviving books, if any, have ended up. Books on Fire received the 2004 Societe des Gens de Lettres Prize for Nonfiction/History in Paris.
Chicago's Great Fire
Author: Carl SmithPublisher: Grove Atlantic
ISBN: 0802148115
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
A definitive chronicle of the 1871 Chicago Fire as remembered by those who experienced it—from the author of Chicago and the American Literary Imagination. Over three days in October, 1871, much of Chicago, Illinois, was destroyed by one of the most legendary urban fires in history. Incorporated as a city in 1837, Chicago had grown at a breathtaking pace in the intervening decades—and much of the hastily-built city was made of wood. Starting in Catherine and Patrick O’Leary’s barn, the Fire quickly grew out of control, twice jumping branches of the Chicago River on its relentless path through the city’s three divisions. While the death toll was miraculously low, nearly a third of Chicago residents were left homeless and more were instantly unemployed. This popular history of the Great Chicago Fire approaches the subject through the memories of those who experienced it. Chicago historian Carl Smith builds the story around memorable characters, both known to history and unknown, including the likes of General Philip Sheridan and Robert Todd Lincoln. Smith chronicles the city’s rapid growth and its place in America’s post-Civil War expansion. The dramatic story of the fire—revealing human nature in all its guises—became one of equally remarkable renewal, as Chicago quickly rose back up from the ashes thanks to local determination and the world’s generosity. As we approach the fire’s 150th anniversary, Carl Smith’s compelling narrative at last gives this epic event its full and proper place in our national chronicle. “The best book ever written about the fire, a work of deep scholarship by Carl Smith that reads with the forceful narrative of a fine novel. It puts the fire and its aftermath in historical, political and social context. It’s a revelatory pleasure to read.” —Chicago Tribune
Pictorial History of the World's Greatest War and New International Atlas of the World
Author: Awful Splendour
Author: Stephen J. PynePublisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774840277
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 581
Book Description
Fire is a defining element in Canadian land and life. With few exceptions, Canada's forests and prairies have evolved with fire. Its peoples have exploited fire and sought to protect themselves from its excesses, and since Confederation, the country has devised various institutions to connect fire and society. The choices Canadians have made says a great deal about their national character. Awful Splendour narrates the history of this grand saga. It will interest geographers, historians, and members of the fire community.