The Big Burn by Timothy Egan

In 1910 a forest fire burned an area in Idaho and Montana the size of Connecticut. Abut 100 people died and a few towns disappeared forever. Egan manages to not only put the reader right in the middle of the inferno but also clarify the political ramifications of this event. Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir, Gifford Pinchot - the beginnings of the Forest Service - history as we wish we had learned it at school. Just as gripping as The Worst Hard Time.