Interesting read, but could have been much better

books:

	• Firestorm at Peshtigo: A Town, Its People, and the Deadliest Fire in American History Denise Gess, William Lutz Holt Paperbacks, 2003 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Riviting read

I could not put this book down and I'm normally a fiction reader. It was engrossing and engaging. I have since looked up everything I can about the Pishtigo fire. Having camped there last summer the title caught my eye but the text just kept me reading into the early morning hours. It is so well written you just can't put it down. It has been a long time since I've found a book so spellbinding...thanks!

Interesting read, but could have been much better

I just finished this book earlier this week and my main reaction is frustration. This is a FASCINATING topic and a sadly forgotten historical tragedy, but this book left me wanting more--and less.

I agree with Carol Collins' review below that there was too much background material and not nearly enough material concerning the fire itself and its aftermath. I could have easily read 2 chapters of this book and skipped the rest. But my judgment, unlike Ms. Collins', was that the book should have been shorter, not longer. I think the authors must have had a contract for a certain number of pages and had to add a lot of background material to get there.

This book was very similar to Simon Winchester's book on Krakatoa--which was also long on background and short on its stated purpose. If you want to read truly EXCELLENT works in the disaster genre, I highly recommend O'Donnell's "Ship Ablaze" (General Slocum fire), "Dark Tide" (Boston Molasses Flood) and "The Cherry Mine Disaster" (Mine fire in Cherry, IL), all of which are equally fascinating but much better written in my view.

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catastrophe brought vividly to life on the page.

roughly the first 2/3rds of this book are completely compelling. the time and place are brought to life with complete narrative mastery. the horror of this event becomes a page-turning thriller as the authors build the scene page by page into the nightmare catastrophe which is the climax. the only reason i give this 4 stars instead of 5, is because the last part of the book deals with the relief efforts that follow the fire, and they are simply not that interesting. do not let that small quibble of mine deter you from reading this book, however. it is a fascinating read.

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Forgotten American Disaster

I bought this book, as I had never read about this disaster. The authors made it very interesting and easy to read. The book included a couple interesting maps for reference, something I always look for.

The one message I got from this book is how far we have advanced in managing disasters since that time. The book includes discussion of common disaster elements then that are common in disasters today.

The lack of early warning; lack of communication when the telegraph lines were burned, (no news is good news); the emergence of victims to help others, the convergence of the outside world when it became apparent the extent of the disaster are addressed in this book.

This book covers continuity of operations/succession issues, logistics and medical aid for the thousands of walking wounded. Lastly, the event was studied by the US military to perfect incendiary attacks on populations. Hadn't heard that either but the narrative of the "firestorm" was very uncomfortable to read. Great book and I would make it mandatory reading for disaster managers.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

?Novelist Denise Gess and historian William Lutz brilliantly restore the event to its rightful place in the forefront of American historical imagination.? ?Chicago Sun-Times

On October 8, 1871?the same night as the Great Chicago Fire?the lumber town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, was struck with a five-mile-wide wall of flames, borne on tornado-force winds of one hundred miles per hour that tore across more than 2,400 square miles of land, obliterating the town in less than one hour and killing more than two thousand people.

At the center of the blowout were politically driven newsmen Luther Noyes and Franklin Tilton, money-seeking lumber baron Isaac Stephenson, parish priest Father Peter Pernin, and meteorologist Increase Lapham. In Firestorm at Peshtigo, Denise Gess and William Lutz vividly re-create the personal and political battles leading to this monumental natural disaster, and deliver it from the lost annals of American history.

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