John N Maclean

In 1994, a wildfire on Colorado's Storm King Mountain was wrongly identified at the outset as occurring in South Canyon. This unintentional, seemingly minor human error was the first in a string of mistakes that would be compounded into one of the greatest tragedies in the annals of firefighting. Before it was done, fourteen courageous firefighters--men and women, hotshots, smoke jumpers, and helicopter crew--would lose their lives battling the deadly...

"Beginning with a riveting account of the worst case of arson in woldfire history, which claimed the lives of fifteen firefighters--John Maclean explains the mysterious dynamics of fire ,and the courage and techniques required to combat it. Maclean returns to Mann Gulch, the site of his father's classic Young men and fire, to interview the last survivor of smoke jumping, illustrating how fatal fires continue to burn in the hearts and minds of firefighters...

"It was late evening when the wind over a brush-choked canyon in northern California unexpectedly shifted and roared downhill. The Rattlesnake Fire had been burning since midday on the Mendocino National Forest. The fresh, violent wind picked up embers from the fire and spun them down into the depths of the canyon, blowing into a thunderous torrent of fire. The sight mesmerized veteran firefighters. Long, fatal minutes passed before they remembered...

A gorgeous new centennial edition of Ernest Hemingway's landmark short story of a veteran's solo fishing trip in Michigan's rugged Upper Peninsula, illustrated with specially commissioned artwork by master engraver Chris Wormell and featuring a revelatory foreword by John N. Maclean.