When I first read The Boys in the Boat, I decided Daniel James Brown was the best history writer I had ever read. After reading Under a Flaming Sky I haven’t changed my mind. I feel like I know the ordinary/extraordinary people who survived (or not) the Great Hinckley fire of 1894. He puts you right there with them, in their homes, on their streets, on trains that are burning as they flee the fire… Though sometimes I could do without being able to experience every moment of this horrible situation! (That’s why I haven’t read his book based on the diary of a member of the Donner Party–The Indifferent Stars Above–yet. I’m not sure I want to get that close to their experience.)
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