title: The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy
author:  Stewart O'Nan 
description: A triumph of literary storytelling.<i>The</i> <i>Cleveland Plain Dealer<br /><br /></i>An extraordinary book. ONan is amazing in his handling of the abundance of fact, rumors and legends that have built up around this fire.<i>USA Today<br /></i><br />[ONans]non-fiction is as accomplished as his fiction.... [<b>The Circus Fire</b> is] as gripping as any thriller.<i>The</i> <i>Seattle Times</i>
zlib_text: Prologue
  Ten Years Ago…
  The huge blue-and-white tent had been stifling, but the wall of hot, humid air that greeted Joe
  Beck once he left the protective canvas sucked the breath right out of his body. So far his trip into
  town for one last hurrah before he left for the Navy had reached the tepid mark at best on the
  excitement Richter scale.
  What did he expect when the biggest thing to hit Nowhere, Montana, was the circus? The place
  had little to offer a nineteen-year-old who was ready to sow some wild oats until he had to report to
  Uncle Sam. He had sat through women in sparkles twirling high above the crowd and clowns that
  acted like… well, clowns. He was impressed with the tricks the horses performed. He knew horses,
  and those animals that had taken over the center ring were skilled.
  Now that the show was over, Joe thought maybe it was time to go over to the beer tent and see if
  he could find someone older who would slip him a beer or two. It sucked that he was old enough to
  die for 