Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire

This book is a must read for any person interested in the cutlural effect of wild and rural land fire. The book is accessible to everybody, it is well writen and light on technical jargon. Pyne undertook a momentous task by writing this book, nothing like it exisited like it when it was first published in 1984, (sorry to the one review that stated that his older books were better, this is the first one, his other books are great supliments in the cycle of fire.) A GREAT BOOK.

Although there are any number of worthy books and articles on the ecological effects of fire (and of fire-suppression), Pyne's take on the ways in which humans have and still do use fire in manners which are as much conditioned by matters of tradition as well as those of rationality struck me as a novel way of looking at the subject. As a child I gleefully participated in the annual raking of fallen tree leaves into piles and their subsequent destruction by fire. It seemed part of the natural order of things and was great fun. Although the community that I grew up in has long since banned the practice, it never occurred to me to reflect on the cultural norms behind the practice until I read this book. It is rather enlightening and humbling to see one's own behavior examined with the level of detachment and dispassion that an anthropologist might bring to some unfamiliar and seemingly bizarre practices of some isolated aboriginal tribe!This book is no polemic, nor does it have any obvious agenda. I am unaware of any controversy over its contents. This is not to say that the author's views are not fresh and interesting. The author is highly knowledgeable about his subject and previously published a highly acclaimed book about a tragic forest fire-fighting incident that resulted in the deaths of several fire-fighters. This book does not have the high drama of that work, but it is very well written and stimulating. A very good read, in my estimation.