I read this book just days before the devastating fires in Hawaii, which were also fueled by high winds. The detailed descriptions in the book made the current fire even more heartbreaking and terrifying.

Was the Peshtigo fire a warning to us of the earth’s destructive power, especially when humans make choices to so significantly alter the earth’s equilibrium? Just as climate change led to Hawaii’s fires, the massive fires in the upper midwest in 1871 were also in part brought on by human impact- cutting massive forests for farm land and railroads and logging which helped create the conditions of a tinder box.