The Great Fire

The book recounts the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871. It started on a lazy Sunday in a barn near the edge of Chicago. The city was in the midst of a long drought, making its wooden buildings and sidewalks very dry and thus vulnerable to fire. The fire department was well organized and well equipped, but a series of unfortunate events turned a small fire into one of history's most notorious blazes. One hundred thousand people lost their homes; several tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed; and many people, including children, died.