On August 5, 1949, a crew of fifteen of the United States Forest Service's elite airborne firefighters, the Smokejumpers, stepped into the sky above a remote forest fire in the Montana wilderness. Two hours after their jump, all but three of these men were dead or mortally burned. Haunted by these deaths for forty years, Norman Maclean puts back together the scattered pieces of the Mann Gulch tragedy.
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"Maclean spent years writing this late in his life, to honor the young men killed in this fire. Uses many angles to tell the story. Part social history, part unraveling of mystery, part reflection on writing and life itself. An old boyfriend recommended this to me in college. As I read, I could easily picture him as one of the smokejumpers. Beautiful, tragic." — Karla (5 out of 5 stars)
"Maclean spent years writing this late in his life, to honor the young men killed in this fire. Uses many angles to tell the story. Part social history, part unraveling of mystery, part reflection on writing and life itself. An old boyfriend recommended this to me in college. As I read, I could easily picture him as one of the smokejumpers. Beautiful, tragic."
" A true story of several fire jumpers who were killed in a forest fire in Montana. The book explores the investigation into what happened, different types of fires, and the birth of fire jumping. "
" It's about pain and survival and love and jumping out of airplanes into forest fires! Oh, and it's non-fiction. "
" This book was like getting to crawl inside Norman Mclean's head. A must read for anyone who teaches about or fights wildland fires. "
" Easily one of the most memorable books I've read. Many years after I read it I've retained images from this descriptive, melancholy narrative of young smoke jumpers who were consumed in a tornadic firestorm that occurred in along Montana's Missouri River. "
" It's a bit a hard read, but so compellng and so tragic. "
" feels blasphemous to give norman maclean anything less than 5 stars but it just didn't grab me the way "a river runs through it" did. "
" i reread this almost yearly. maclean writes some of the best prose ever! "
" I read this book in college for a literature class and really enjoyed it. It gave great insight into fighting forest fires and what life is like for smoke jumpers. "
" Montana fire in Mann Gulch 1949 with death of 13 aged 17-23 and 3 survivors, escape fires in grass areas, smoke jumpers, geometry of natural shapes created intense burst. "
" On my top ten list. Loved it. "
" Read this some time ago when it was handed to me by my friend, Mark. As I recall, it was a fine read. I add it to my list now because the author's "A River Runs Through It" has come into the house from the thrift store and onto my to-read shelf. "
" Well written and haunting..this true story of the smokejumpers fire disaster stayed with me the whole time I was reading it. Couldn't stop thinking about it. History, drama, tragedy..the whole shebang. "
" Norman Maclean's touching prose brings to life this Montana tragedy. While difficult to accept the final moments of this fire fighting crew, the way he pieces together the puzzle makes it unforgettable reading. "
" Probably the best book I've ever read. "
" I found it a that the writing style was a little difficult for me to get into but it was an interesting subject. "
" This is an amazing book. The writing is beautiful, the story is tragic and compelling. This one definitely goes on the re-read pile. "
" !This was such an enlightning true story of the Mann Gulch Fire near Helena, Montana in 1949. It was especially meaningful to to me as I lost a brother and a nephew in a wildfire in Utah in 2007. "
" This book really felt unfinished (it really was, or so I hear) and could have been a lot better but it did make me feel like I was up there in the gulch with a huge forest fire crowning. "
Norman Maclean grew up in and around Missoula, Montana, where he worked in logging camps and for the US Forest Service. He attended Dartmouth College and taught English for forty-six years at the University of Chicago. He began writing A River Runs Through It in his seventies at the request of his children.
Corey M. Snow is a full-time audiobook narrator and voice talent from the great Pacific Northwest working from his home studio in Olympia, Washington. Before becoming a narrator, he was a typesetter, a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, a software developer, and much more. He has recorded numerous audiobooks, including the DeChance Chronicles by David Niall Wilson, Crescent Lake by David Sakmyster, and the riveting Black Hearts by Time magazine editor Jim Frederick.
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