title: The Fires of Spring: A Novel
author:  James A. Michener 
description: &ldquo;A warm-hearted, readable story, crammed with lively incident and remarkable characters.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>The Atlantic</i></b><br> <b><i>&#160;</i></b><br> &ldquo;Heartfelt . . . immensely readable . . . Michener is a born writer.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>The New York Times</i></b><br> &#160;<br> &ldquo;Michener is a gifted storyteller.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>Kirkus Reviews</i></b><br> &#160;<br> &ldquo;Brilliantly done.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>Library Journal</i></b>
zlib_text: SPRING FIRE
  
  By
  
  Vin Packer
  
  
  
  
  
  Spring Fire
  
  By Vin Packer
  
  First published 1952.
  
  ISBN: 978-1-936456-12-3  
  
  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
  products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
  to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely
  coincidental.
  
  
  
  
  
  INTRODUCTION
  
  A new revolution was underway at the start of the 1940s in America—a paperback
  revolution that would change the way publishers would produce and distribute
  books and how people would purchase and read them.
  
  In 1939 a new publishing company—Pocket Books—stormed onto the scene with the
  publication of its first paperbound book. These books were cheaply produced
  and sold in numbers never before seen, in large part due to a bold and
  innovative distribution model that soon after made Pocket Books available in
  drugstores, newsstands, bus and train stations, and cigar shops. The American
  public could not get enough of them, and before