Book Notes: PBS show picks up Egan’s ‘Big Burn’
Once again, a Timothy Egan book is headed to PBS.
Egan, the National Book Award-winning author of “The Worst Hard Time” who was raised in Spokane, saw Ken Burns bring his Dust Bowl history to PBS stations in 2012. Next month, the series “American Experience” will pick up the topic of Egan’s 2009 book “The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America.”
The program will air at 8 p.m. on Sept. 9 on Idaho Public Television station KCDT. KSPS in Spokane will be in the middle of pledge week at that time, and will bump the program from prime time that week. There will be a few middle-of-the-night and early morning airings, and look for it at 7 p.m. Sept. 16 on KSPS. Additional airings on the KSPS World channel are planned as well.
The Big Burn was a massive wildfire that scorched the Northern Rockies in the summer of 1910, burning more than 3 million acres in 36 hours. Entire towns – Taft, Haugen and DeBorgia in Western Montana, Grand Forks and Falcon in Idaho – were decimated. Wallace sustained heavy damage. Nearly 90 people died, and a ranger in the Wallace district, Ed Pulaski, became a legend.
For more information on “The American Experience,” visit www.pbs.org/ wgbh/american experience/films/burn/.
Montana author hits Inland Northwest
Auntie’s Bookstore continues its Debut Author Series with a visit this month by Malcolm Brooks.
Brooks, who lives in Missoula, has just released “Painted Horses” (Grove, $25), which tells the story of Catherine, a young archaeologist in the 1950s who comes to Montana and falls in love with the place and a nomadic artist.
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly says “Painted Horses” is a “debut that captures the spirit of a place.”
Brooks will be at Auntie’s, 402 W. Main Ave., at 7 p.m. on Aug. 19. He’ll head to Idaho at 7 p.m. Aug. 20 for a reading at the Well-Read Moose, 2048 N. Main St., in Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone development. For readers down on the Palouse, he’ll be at BookPeople of Moscow, 521 S. Main St. in Moscow, at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 21.
Just noticed something
What is it with book shops being on Main drags?
Auntie’s at 402 W. Main Ave.? The Well-Read Moose at 2048 N. Main St.? BookPeople 521 S. Main St.?
How’s that for a fun coincidence?