1. Murphy says that early books about the Great Fire are inaccurate and biased. In his bibliography, he lists some nineteenth-century accounts of the fire. Select one and identify the inaccuracies Murphy mentions. Is the account as prejudiced against poor and lower-middle-class people as Murphy suggests?

2. Late in The Great Fire, Claire Innes is trapped in an alley with fire burning all around her. What do safety experts recommend someone do to survive when trapped like that? Does Claire Innes make the best choices for survival?

3. According to Murphy, the Chicago fire department of 1871 was almost stateof-the-art. What equipment did the department have? How were its stations organized?

4. Describe in detail one of the pieces of fire equipment that would have been used to fight the Great Fire. Who built it? What was its purpose? How well did it work? Is...