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Firestorm at Peshtigo: A Town, Its People, and the Deadliest Fire in American History Hardcover – August 2, 2002

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 183 ratings

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A riveting account of a monster firestorm -- the rarest kind of catastrophic fire -- and the extraordinary people who survived its wrath.

On October 8, 1871 -- the same night as the Great Chicago Fire -- an even deadlier conflagration was sweeping through the lumber town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, 260 miles north of Chicago. The five-mile-wide wall of flames, borne on tornado-force winds of 100 miles per hour, tore across more than 2,400 square miles of land, obliterating Peshtigo in less than one hour and killing more than 2,000 people.

Firestorm at Peshtigo places the reader at the center of the blow-out. Through accounts of newspaper publishers Luther Noyes and Franklin Tilton, lumber baron Isaac Stephenson, parish priest Father Peter Pernin, and meteorologist Increase Lapham -- the only person who understood the unusual and dangerous nature of this fire -- Denise Gess and William Lutz re-create the story of the people, the politics, and the place behind this monumental natural disaster, delivering it from the lost annals of American history.

Drawn from survivors' letters, diaries, interviews, and local newspapers,
Firestorm at Peshtigo tells the human story behind America's deadliest wildfire.
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In American history books, October 8, 1871, marks the massive fire that consumed Chicago. But as Gess (Good Deeds) and Lutz (Doublespeak) document in this thorough historical narrative, it was also the night a fledgling Wisconsin mining town endured a worse fate a story often overlooked in the annals of fire. Peshtigo, with a population of nearly 2,000, was obliterated in less than an hour that night by a freakish convergence of rampant forest fires and tornado-force winds. Gess and Lutz draw on a wealth of local sources, including diaries, interviews with survivors and newspaper accounts, to enliven their story and forge a cast of main characters. While the authors go into far too much detail in describing the town's founding and its politics, they render a chilling, absorbing account of the hellish events of the night itself, perhaps due to Gess's background as a novelist: " `Faster than it takes to write these words' is the phrase every survivor used. They used it to describe the speed of a fireball hitting a house and setting it into instant flames; they used it to describe the speed with which one house was lifted from its foundation, then thrown through the air `a hundred feet' before it detonated midflight and sent strips of flaming wood flying like shrapnel.... They used it to describe the sight of a small boy, separated from his family, and how he knelt to the ground, crouching in prayer before fire lit his body." The images of the catastrophe are often as unpleasant as they are vivid, but readers will sense that they are necessary and that Gess and Lutz have done an overdue service to those who suffered.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The same day as the Great Chicago Fire, October 8, 1871, a huge conflagration swept through the lumber town of Peshtigo, WI, north of Green Bay on Lake Superior. A summer's drought, a windy day, and possibly a tornado combined to create a firestorm. The fire destroyed 2400 square miles of timber and farmland, demolishing several towns and killing some 2000 people. Peshtigo was remote, and earlier fires had destroyed telegraph lines, so although the scale of the disaster was considerably larger than Chicago's, the loss was relatively little known and quickly forgotten. Novelist Gess (Red Whiskey Blues) and Lutz (English, Rutgers Univ.; Doublespeak) gather information from letters, diaries, interviews, and local newspapers to tell the story of this disaster. In increasingly overheated language, they re-create the politics, the economic realities of a lumber town, and the special meteorological circumstances that combined to destroy an area larger than Rhode Island. Despite the somewhat turgid writing, this work is mildly recommended for libraries with subject collections in fire prevention, disaster recovery, and regional history. Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (August 2, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 251 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0805067809
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805067804
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.9 x 1.11 x 10.26 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 183 ratings

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Denise Gess
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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
183 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book's narrative compelling and gripping. They describe it as an interesting read with great information about the firestorm. Readers appreciate the well-researched content and educational value of the book. The writing style is described as clear and easy to understand.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

21 customers mention "Storytelling"21 positive0 negative

Customers find the storytelling compelling and gripping. They describe the narrative as true, incredible, and easy to read. The author paints a vivid picture of the events and captures what happened admirably.

"A compelling and stirring narrative that examines all the factors that created the firestorm at Peshtigo...." Read more

"...recommendation, not only to readers of history, but to readers who love a page-turning drama..." Read more

"...The authors made it very interesting and easy to read...." Read more

"Great story and summary of a fire out of control in northern Wisconsin. Horrific devastation that was overshadowed but the Chicago fire in 1871...." Read more

20 customers mention "Readability"20 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging. They describe it as an interesting account of the deadly wildfire.

"...The authors have done a brilliant job putting it all together into a highly readable account...." Read more

"Excellent, EXCELLENT, account of the deadly wildfire that became a firestorm that hit Wisconsin 1871...." Read more

"Enjoyed reading this very much. Easy to understand, story told through the lens of the people that were involved." Read more

"...Great book and I would make it mandatory reading for disaster managers." Read more

19 customers mention "Information quality"19 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides a great deal of information about the history and events leading up to the fire. They appreciate the thorough research and detailed portrayal of people affected by the fire. The book provides a comprehensive background on people, places, and weather knowledge.

"...A combination of both human disregard and amazing meteorological phenomena created one of the most intense firestorms that humanity has ever seen...." Read more

"...archives, newspaper accounts, eye-witness accounts and scientific findings, FIRESTORM AT PESHTIGO is riveting and almost impossible to put down once..." Read more

"...In short, a brutally fascinating nugget of American history, proving again that fact is indeed stranger, and in this case, more lurid, than fiction." Read more

"...This is a FASCINATING topic and a sadly forgotten historical tragedy, but this book left me wanting more--and less...." Read more

11 customers mention "Fire account"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and detailed about a horrible firestorm. They say it covers the background, the fire itself, and its aftermath. Readers appreciate the positive reaction to the book's coverage of meteorology and physics of a true firestorm.

"...accounts, eye-witness accounts and scientific findings, FIRESTORM AT PESHTIGO is riveting and almost impossible to put down once you begin reading...." Read more

"...as well as the infant science of meteorology and the physics of a true firestorm...." Read more

"...This excellent book goes from the backgrounds, though the fire, and covers the aftermath...." Read more

"Great story and summary of a fire out of control in northern Wisconsin. Horrific devastation that was overshadowed but the Chicago fire in 1871...." Read more

11 customers mention "Writing quality"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-written and engaging. They say it's readable and easy to understand.

"...have done a brilliant job putting it all together into a highly readable account...." Read more

"Enjoyed reading this very much. Easy to understand, story told through the lens of the people that were involved." Read more

"...The authors made it very interesting and easy to read...." Read more

"...The book is well written and gives you a window to the past that you might not have had...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2017
    A compelling and stirring narrative that examines all the factors that created the firestorm at Peshtigo. A combination of both human disregard and amazing meteorological phenomena created one of the most intense firestorms that humanity has ever seen. The authors have done a brilliant job putting it all together into a highly readable account. The saddest circumstance is that military minds studied the event to eventually reproduce such conditions in WW2 bombings.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2018
    Excellent, EXCELLENT, account of the deadly wildfire that became a firestorm that hit Wisconsin 1871. Very detailed, and in-depth portrayal of the people affected by this horror. Drawn from numerous historical archives, newspaper accounts, eye-witness accounts and scientific findings, FIRESTORM AT PESHTIGO is riveting and almost impossible to put down once you begin reading. This book has my highest recommendation, not only to readers of history, but to readers who love a page-turning drama (only this one is non-fiction, which makes it more compelling).
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2023
    Enjoyed reading this very much. Easy to understand, story told through the lens of the people that were involved.
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2004
    While overshadowed by the great Chicago fire which took place on the same day, October 8, 1871, the firestorm that obliterated Peshtigo, Wisconsin was a tragedy of unprecedented proportion - one of those events evoking the reaction "why didn't I know about this"? Aside from the horror of the fire, which literally cannot be described in words (how can one adequately describe the impact of a 1,000 foot-high wall of fire moving at speeds exceeding 100 miles-per-hour), "Firestorm at Peshtigo" offers fascinating insight to life in the north-central timber forests of the mid-nineteenth century, as well as the infant science of meteorology and the physics of a true firestorm. Notwithstanding, the books primary appeal lies in the almost ghoulish detail in which the incomprehensible devastation of the firestorm is drawn. While the final loss of life will never be known, 2,200 deaths is an accepted estimate in a fire that raged over 2,400 square miles - a conflagration so intense that even the soil burned. Given the primitive state of medicine of the day, the limited communications and access to the relatively remote Green Bay area, and the total destruction of the land and infrastructure, one wonders if the survivors of the fire, scarred both physically and mentally by the fire and loss of family and community, weren't the true victims.

    In short, a brutally fascinating nugget of American history, proving again that fact is indeed stranger, and in this case, more lurid, than fiction.
    25 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2005
    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.
    5 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2003
    On October 8, 1871, the same day of the famous Chicago fire, a tornado was heading toward the lumber-mill town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, 262 miles north of Chicago, near the coast of Lake Michigan. All summer, forest fires had been burning in the area out of control. As the tornado approached the fires, it drew upon them for energy, becoming a new engine of massive destruction five miles wide.
    Nothng like it had been seen since the Great Fire of London in 1666. Nothing like it would be seen again until the saturation bombing of German cities by the allies in the Second World War.
    People later described the approach of the fire tornado as that of a roaring earthquake that shook the ground. The 100-mile-per-hour winds tore great pines out by the roots, leaving craters 70 feet across. They tossed a locomotive like a twig. It ignited clouds of hydrogen that had been created by the forest fires and threw them to ground in great fireballs.
    The heat of the tornado reached 2,000 degrees, hotter than an atomic blast. It melted railroad lines and the wheels of railroad cars and whipped sand into melted glass. It exploded buildings and threw them into the air. It sucked the water from the earth, leaving all the wells dry.
    Survivors recalled seeing humans, horses, and other animals explode in flame. The tornado flattened 2,400 square miles of forest and killed 2,200 people. Most of those who survived hid in the water under the banks of rivers and streams.
    Prominent in the story is the experience of the local priest, Fr. Pernin, At the last minute, he decided to rescue the Blessed Sacrament and the chalice. He dropped his key and could not find it, so he picked up the wooden tabernacle and took it outside and put it on the wagon. He raced the horse and wagon to the river as everything around them exploded in fire. He and his horse survived though both were badly burned. The next morning, he realized that all the survivors had lost relatives and everything they owned.
    The survivors, most of them blind and burnt, wandered the blistering and smoldering landscape looking for the bodies of relatives and neighbors who had not been pulverized and blown away.
    Only slowly did news of what happened at Pestigo reach the rest of the world. All the attention had been focused on the Chicago fire, where 300 had died. Most of the survivors who did not die of infections and disease faced a lifetime of mental withdrawal and trauma syndrome. Few of them could speak of what they had seen.
    10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • K. D.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Firestorm at Peshtigo
    Reviewed in Canada on September 27, 2019
    Enlightening. After discovering the fire tornado event that took place at Peshtigo in 1871 from the audible audiobook Storm Kings by Lee Sandlin I definitely wanted to find out more.
    As I discovered more I learned that it was actually the deadliest firestorm in North American history with an unfortunate death toll of 2500 people. But sadly it was overshadowed by the Chicago fire that occurred at the same time and so as been largely forgotten.
    Large Firewhirls and an actual high wind tornado that went through Peshtigo during the firestorm certainly not helping matters.
    Such events were considered unbelievable until a very similar event occurred nearly 50 years later in Japan.