Young Men and Fire.When World War I drew hundreds of thousands of young men away from civilian jobs to the trenches of Europe, 15-year-old Norman Maclean Norman Fitzroy Maclean (23 December 1902 in Clarinda, Iowa — 2 August 1990 in Chicago, Illinois) was an American author and scholar most noted for his books A River Runs Through It and Other Stories (1976) and Young Men and Fire (1992). went to work for the U.S. Forest Service. He came to know forests, fires, and firefighters as few people ever have. When at 74 he began researching and writing Young Men and Fire, he brought to it an accumulated wisdom and experience that makes this book strong story-telling, fine research, and deep thinking. It is the story of 13 young smoke jumpers This article is about the novel. For firefighters, see smokejumper. Smoke Jumper is a novel by Nicholas Evans published in 2001. who were caught in Montana's Mann Gulch fire The Mann Gulch fire of 1949 occurred when a wildfire in the Helena National Forest, Montana, United States, spread out of control and ultimately claimed the lives of 13 firefighters. of August 1949. Only two survived. Controversy over the way the others died brought lawsuits, national publicity, and cover-up charges. Maclean uses meticulous me·tic·u·lous adj. 1. Extremely careful and precise. 2. Extremely or excessively concerned with details. [From Latin met research to piece together the tragedy. Equally interesting is how he came to his conclusions and how these research findings led him to discover that "at the very end beyond thought and beyond fear and beyond even self-compassion and divine bewilderment be·wil·der·ment n. 1. The condition of being confused or disoriented. 2. A situation of perplexity or confusion; a tangle: a bewilderment of lies and half-truths. Noun 1. there remains some firm intention to continue doing forever and ever what we last hoped to do on earth." |
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