Comment #3954

2018-04-26T13:05:05Z

Thanks; it's on our Netflix list now. The Big Burn reminds me of my father's admonition, when I (as a know-it-all teenager) was looking down my nose at city life, especially New York City. (We Upstate New Yorkers felt about NYC the way we Floridians feel about Miami: interesting place, but more like a foreign country, and always voting contrary to the rest of the state.) That's when Dad would remind me that my beloved Adirondack Mountains would never have received their "Forever Wild" designation without the voters of New York City. Too many local people were more interested in the mountains as resources to exploit. Similarly, it apparently took a bunch of Yale-trained rich kids to make us realize that America's vast Western forests were treasures to be conserved for future generations.

Comment #3953

2018-04-26T12:28:29Z

I believe PBS showed a Ken Burns documentary on the Dust Bowl that featured quite a few people interviewed in Egan's book. I only saw part of it, but probably worth seeking out to watch.

I have not yet read The Big Burn.

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Comment #3954

Comment #3953