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Working Fire: The Making of a Fireman

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Recommended

Format: Paperback

Condition: Very Good

$6.39
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Book Overview

Zac Unger didn't feel like much of a fireman at first. Most of his fellow recruits seemed to have planned for the job all their lives; he was an Ivy League grad responding to an ad at a bus stop. He couldn't keep his boots shined, and he looked terrible in his uniform. Working Fire is the story of how, from this unlikely beginning, Zac Unger came to feel at home among this close-knit tribe, came to master his work's demands, and came to know what...

Customer Reviews

5 customer ratings | 5 reviews

Rated 5 stars
I'm an accidental fireman too!

I absolutely loved this book. It is as close to understanding what it's like to be a fireman as you can ever get...without actually becoming one. I passed it along to my family & friends just so I could say "Here...THIS is what my job is like". Unlike many other books...Working Fire tells the story of firefighting from the point of view of somebody who didn't grow up with fire in their blood & soot in their lungs. ...

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Rated 5 stars
what the job is today

As a fireman, I have been looking for the contemporary replacement for the 1970s tome "Report from Engine Co. 82" since I first read Dennis Smith's account of the FDNY. I read and reread Smith's book, checking it out of the library at least once a year until it was rereleased in hardback in the 1990s and I bought my own copy. The fire service has changed since the days when the south Bronx and other parts of other cities were...

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Rated 5 stars
Engaging fireman

Unger joined the Oakland Fire Department in the 1990's. An Ivy League grad, son of Berkeley intellectuals, he had a calling for dangerous, physical, activities that baffled his parents. From feeling, and looking, like a fish out of water, he learned to be a part of the close-knit tribe of firefighters. Mixing just the right amount of self-analysis with a healthy dose of anecdotes and observations about the social, physical,...

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Rated 5 stars
Transcends Typical "Fish Out of Water" Memoir

(Note: this may be a duplicate review.) As a librarian, I am guilty of reading many books and commenting on few. "Working Fire" was just too good not to say so to others. "Working Fire" is an entertaining, honest, and frequently humorous story of Unger's transformation from crunchy Californian and Ivy Leaguer to firefighter. Like Ted Conover's excellent "Newjack," Unger uses the fish-out-of-water theme to take us deep...

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Rated 5 stars
Great and insightful and interesting writing

Zac Unger is educated, eloquent, and, most importantly, observant. I'd never have thought that the subject of firefighting would be something that I'd take the time to read about, but I was wrong and I'm very glad this book somehow found its way into my hands. It isn't just the firefighting part, even though that's something that maybe all of us are curious about - and here's someone who can and will tell you all about that...

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