Young Men and Fire [Paperback]

 

 

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A powerful and complex book, compelling, clearly written. It covers human drama and tragedy, scientific search and discovery, all with a "you are there" in the great outdoors setting. As good a book as I have read, bar none.

It's hard to classify this book beyond saying that it's a moving non-fiction tale. Maclean uses historical techniques to reconstruct the Mann Gulch fire of August 5, 1949, but his exposition is poetic rather than historical. For example, the author imagines his characters' thoughts and ponders the writing process as well as his wife's death from cancer. Sometimes Maclean's lyrical prose seems just and apt, at other times silly and pretentious. I suppose every reader could put together his own list of good and bad sentences.

As examples of the former let me suggest two from the first paragraph of Chapter One: "In 1949 the Smokejumpers were not far from their origins as parachute jumpers turned stunt performer dropping from the wings of planes at county fairs just for the hell of it plus a few dollars, less hospital expenses.... They were still so young they hadn't learned to count the odds and to sense they might owe the universe a tragedy." (19)

As examples of the latter, I offer two from near the end of the book: "...the compassion felt for themselves by the tragic young is self-pity transformed into some divine bewilderment, one of the few emotions in which the young and the universe are the only characters. Although divine bewilderment addresses its grief to the universe, it only cries out to it." (299)

Generally Maclean, his subject, and his literary style seem most congruent when the humanity of the Mann Gulch tragedy is addressed, less fitting when the author discusses hard science. Perhaps recognizing this weakness, the University of Chicago Press did not create an index for this book.

Have you ever known someone that has been involved with firefighting? Do you want to know more about the brave, young firefighters that are risking their lives on a daily basis? If firefighting is an interest of yours or if you want to ignite a spark that will increase your interest in firefighting, I recommend reading Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire. Maclean takes the readers through a devastating story of a young group of Smokejumpers that lost their lives in the Mann Gulch fire on August 5, 1949, in Young Men and Fire.
Maclean first captures the audience and draws them into his personal relationship to the story of the Smokejumpers. He does so by telling of his experiences with working in the forest service department. Maclean immediately presents the dangers and the horrible after effects that fires have. An emphasis on the fact that everyone is susceptible to the dangers of fire helps introduce the story. Maclean shows even the impacts that forest fires have on the animal. "A deer terribly burned. It was drinking and probably had been for a long time." (12) Maclean compares the deer's suffering to the suffering that some of the few survivors from the August 5 Smokejumping crew may have endured. It seems that fire brings life down to its barest form and demands that all things living be bonded because they are all vulnerable.
Smokejumping was a topic that I had never heard of before Young Men and Fire was suggested for my book group. I was both interested and excited at the chance to learn more about the mysterious world of Smokejumping as Maclean presents it in Young Men and Fire. Maclean's rhythmic language and detailed description all help to bring the Smokejumpers' story to life. The Smokejumpers, as people, come to life and it is easy to see them as more than just firefighters. I could see some of the same characteristics in these Smokejumpers as I see in my brother, father, uncles, grandfathers, etc. Maclean emphasizes the important characteristics that the Smokejumpers must have, "They had to be young, tough, and in one way or another from the backcountry." (26) As rough and as strong as these young men were, they still were young, innocent, and naïve to the fact that they were being sent to one of the roughest landscapes in the country to fight fires.
Maclean creates the landscape in a way that demands the readers to fear the beauty of the land before them. The Mann Gulch fire occurred in a rural area of Montana; Mann Gulch is only easily accessible by boat or by helicopter. A photograph insert is included in most copies of Young Men and Fire and it is very helpful to be able to see through photographs what Maclean is talking about. Maclean references to the included photographs and uses them only to emphasize the sheer greatness of the landscape. One aspect that Maclean elaborates on is the steepness of the land saying that the land possesses a, "76 percent slope having no shade." (192) In many of the photographs, the crosses of the 13 men that died fighting the Mann Gulch fire can be seen. Maclean particularly uses the photographs to elaborate on how details, such as crosses, helped him to reveal the truth behind the Mann Gulch fire.
At one point in Maclean's narrative, he revisits Mann Gulch with an expert friend and two of the fire's survivors, Sallee and Rumsey. Maclean continues his journey of revealing the truth behind what happened on August 5, 1949 through the first hand accounts of Sallee and Rumsey. A lot of controversy surrounds the events that occurred that day, most of which surround the foreman of that day's jump crew, Wag Dodge. Dodge and his fellow Smokejumpers knew that they were in trouble from the start because of the fire's unpredictable direction changes. Because of the steep landscape, it was impossible to keep the crew within shouting distance of one another and the group began to split apart. These young Smokejumpers quickly became terrified and began to, as Rumsey says, "'I was only thinking of my own hide.'" (96) I could not help but think that these young men were supposed to act as a team and yet, in a moment when they needed each other the most, they split and went their own ways. The majority of controversy surrounds the "escape" fire that Dodge created; an "escape" fire being a secondary fire that would create ashes for the men to lay down in and let the fire "jump" over them. Many people question the fate of the crew had they followed Dodge's instructions.
Maclean, the son of a Presbyterian minister, presents religion in Young Men and Fire in a very non-confrontational way, seeming to almost hint at the importance of religion. Maclean says that you can tell if a man is Catholic or not by whether or not he has a cross around his neck. The Smokejumpers' struggles through their journeys and their way of taking relief breaks causes me to see the allusions of the Stations of the Cross. Religion continues to peek its way through Maclean's narrative and adds to the question of fate.
Maclean does a wonderful job of telling the Smokejumpers' story and what they encountered in the last few hours of their lives. Maclean describes his own writing style in Young Men and Fire, as that of a storyteller. Maclean says, "A storyteller, unlike a historian, must follow compassion wherever it leads him." (102) As I progressed through Young Men and Fire, I could tell that Maclean is telling a story that he does not want to be forgotten. The tragedy of the Smokejumpers is one that Maclean found a great deal of compassion for and that is why he pursued the story. He spent nearly 25 years writing Young Men and Fire, only in an attempt to tell the Smokejumpers' story with the most precise details and stories. Young Men and Fire is a very accurate novel and it takes into account various viewpoints from many experts and survivors of the fire.
I would recommend Young Men and Fire to anyone that is interested in a glimpse into an often-overlooked piece of history. Smokejumping is a very interesting subject because it is rather new technique used in firefighting, coming into existence only around the early 1940's. Maclean's simple, storytelling technique will sooth you through a disastrous story of death and destruction. Maclean took great care when writing Young Men and Fire because he did not want to down play what happened to these young men. The story of Mann Gulch fire on August 5, 1949 will live forever through Maclean's Young Men and Fire. I would rate Young Men and Fire an A-. Enjoy this fantastic read about the journeys that Maclean went through to tell the most accurate story of the Smokejumpers.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A Heated Investigation
Soaring high above the earth, you are on a mission. Densely crammed into a plane, you are part of a team of adventurous souls. Read more

Published on Jan 30 2004 by Elizabeth Frosch

5.0 out of 5 stars Reborn in the Sky
What is a 'blowup'? What is an 'escape fire'? What is a smokejumper? I had no answers to any of these questions before I began the book Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean... Read more

Published on Jan 29 2004 by Andrew Gastineau

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fire To Spark Your Interest
Norman Maclean wrote Young Men and Fire to tell the story of the Mann Gulch fire of 1949, a tragedy overlooked throughout history. Read more

Published on Jan 28 2004 by Mel

5.0 out of 5 stars Young Men & Fire
This is my favorite book! What a story.

Published on Aug 2 2003 by Tabbatha Cavendish

3.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to firefighting...
I read this book after hearing the song "Cold Missouri Waters" which is based on the events of the Mann Gulch Fire. Read more

Published on July 16 2003 by Benatarium

4.0 out of 5 stars Notes on an obsession
I know a man who was a smoke jumper in the 1940's and I always enjoyed his tales of adventure. He was so dedicated to the profession that he and his wife honeymooned at a ranger... Read more

Published on Jun 17 2003 by Randy Keehn

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent story about a story
I've read a number of reviews that talk about how repetitive and disorganized this book is, but I really didn't find this to be a problem. Read more

Published on Jan 3 2003 by Benjamin Turner

1.0 out of 5 stars Throw this one in the fire...
To be blunt, Young Men and Fire was an awful book. True, it did start out interesting, but after about 1/3 of the way through the book, MacLean begins repeating himself. Read more

Published on Dec 9 2002 by Nathan P. Spanel

1.0 out of 5 stars My Book Club Hated It
Only 1 out of 9 of us bothered to finish reading this book. The author rambles, gave too much details. I don't think he ever intended to publish this book. Read more

Published on Nov 14 2002 by greenknollsbookclub

4.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing account of young smokejumpers and a great fire
Norman McLean's "Young Men and Fire" examines the tragic Mann Gulch Fire of August 1949, in which over a dozen young men--smokejumpers who'd been brought in to tame the... Read more

Published on Oct 1 2002 by Catherine S. Vodrey

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