smokejumpers in action Jumping Fire Logo

Jumping Fire on the air and in the news

NPR Morning Edition interview:
Listen to Murry Taylor's March 22, 2000,
interview on NPR's Morning Edition.

Listen Here

JPR, Jefferson Public Radio Interview about
the novel, Too Steep and Too Rough

Listen Here

Jumping Fire is mentioned in this 2018 New York Times article
Read the Article (NY Times subscription required)

Jumping Fire featured in 12/20/01 New York Review of Books:
"For him, overcoming forest fires is a way of life, an end in itself, and, above all, a definition of heroic manhood, rather than a question of policy," writes the New York Review of Books, which reviewed Jumping Fire alongside Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910 by Stephen J. Pyne and Fire by Sebastian Junger in the 12/20/01 issue of The New York Review of Books.

Publicity 2000-2001
Radio/talk show interview, KFIZ Fond du Lac Wisconsin, Aug 28
Interview with Barbara Munker of German Press Agency. She will do article on Jumping Fire in next issue. Aug 20th.
KION TV Portland, Ore. Six O'Clock News. Comments on Western Governor's Wildfire Plan. Aug 20th.
Live appearance from the Quartz Fire Camp on MSNBC News with Brian Williams. Aug 16th.
Interview, MSNBC News with Brian Williams, Wed. Aug 15th
KCNN Minneapolis, Minnesota, Afternoon Magazine 4:00 PM Central time. A one-hour talk/call-in show, August 22
Barnes and Noble in Medford. Ore. Aug. 23rd
Slideshow/talk/signing.
US News and World Report, August 13th issue, 2001
"American Heroes"
New York Times, July 2001 Op-Ed Piece (requires purchase)
Interview on KVON, Napa, Cal. July 19th, 2001
Interview, Copper River Public Radio NPR affiliate, Valdez, Alaska July 20th
Modern Maturity Magazine, April Edition
Interview with Murray about his smokejumping career and book.
To Tell the Truth, TV quiz show, May 5th, 2001
Check local listings for exact time.
Paperback Edition released by Harvest Books June 2001
Washington D.C., June 4th-13th, 2001
Murry testified before congressional subcommittees regarding the current mismanagement and wasteful spending on large forest fires. Murry traveled to Washington at the behest of American Lands and testified with members of the Klamath Forest Alliance and The Citizens For Better Forestry headquartered in Eureka.

 

Reviews
Library Journal, June 2000:

"For readers who like books like Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm."

Publishers Weekly, May 15, 2000:

"This is a tale of love and loss, life and death, and sheer hard work set in an unforgiving and unforgettable landscape ..."

Bookpage:

"Taylor describes the vastness of the fires, the land on which they feed, and the immense challenge faced by those who dare interfere with nature's burning desires. The book moves fast; read the short glossary of jumper terms in the back of the book first, so as not to get lost in jumper lingo. Then dive into the intense pleasure of Jumping Fire."

Wall Street Journal, June 23, 2000:

"... this is a book for smokejumpers and hard-core fans of adrenaline literature."

Publishers Weekly, July 17, 2000:

"A large group of local forest firefighters was on hand (at 23rd Street Books in Portland, Oregon) to cheer Taylor on, create a spectacle and buy his book. Taylor is completing a tour of the West Coast that will end in Fairbanks, Alaska, the location of the Alaska Smokejumpers headquarters."

The Los Angeles Times:
* Best Book of 2000

"Jumping Fire is a beautifully crafted, wise yet thrilling book that will endure as long as there is an appetite for vicarious adventure and a curiosity about why people are driven to do dangerous things that most of us would consider crazy."