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

by Stephen J. Pyne

Overview

From prehistory to the present-day conservation movement, Pyne explores the efforts of successive American cultures to master wildfire and to use it to shape the landscape.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295805214
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	01/27/2017
Series:	Weyerhaueser Cycle of Fire
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	680
Sales rank:	910,152
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stephen J. Pyne is a professor in the Biology and Society Program at Arizona State Universty. He is the author of many books, including Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910 and Fire on the Rim: A Firefighter's Season at the Grand Canyon. Fire: A Brief History is the sixth volume in Pyne's Cycle of Fire, which also includes Vestal Fire, World Fire, Burning Bush, The Ice and Fire in America.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword by William Cronon

Preface to the 1997 Paperback Edition

Preface to the Original Edition: History with Fire in its eye

Abbreviations

Prologue: The Smoke of TIme

Nature's Fire

The Fire from Asia

The Fire from Europe

The Great Barbecue

The Heroic Age

A Continental Experiment

The Cold War on Fire

Fields of Fire

Epilogue: The Forbidden Flame

Bibliographic Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliographic Essay

Index

Editorial Reviews

"This unusual and imaginative work takes a phenomenon that seems at first glance to be so elemental as to have no history and no evolution, and gives it a dynamic role in the drama of American advance from frontier through agricultural to industrial society. By integrating the history of fire with ecology, agriculture, logging, and resource management, Pyne has made a unique contribution to the history of science and technology, as well as to cultural history in general."

Isis

"Stephen J. Pyne compels our admiration for his gargantuan ambition and richly informed intelligence. He tells us more than anyone else to date has about the role of fire in the landscape, tells us we have been wrong in assuming a pristine state of nature before the white man’s invasion, tells us what fire has meant to the rise of civilization and this nation. No one interested in environmental history can afford to ignore this massive achievement."

Journal of American History

When first published in 1982, this work was one of the most remarkable scholarly projects ever undertaken by an America historian: a systematic rewriting of U.S. history that put fire at the center of the narrative. From prehistory to the present-day conservation movement, Pyne explores the efforts of successive American cultures to master wildfire and to use it to shape the landscape. He informs readers about the role of fire in the landscape, and discusses what fire has meant to the rise of civilization and this nation. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

"On rare occasions, the historical literature is enriched by the introduction of a broad new field for study, by a book that dramatically expands the boundaries of scholarly investigation. Stephen Pyne’s Fire in America is such a book. It achieves the Promethean goal of bringing fire to history."

Science

"On rare occasions, the historical literature is enriched by the introduction of a broad new field for study, by a book that dramatically expands the boundaries of scholarly investigation. Stephen Pyne's Fire in America is such a book. It achieves the Promethean goal of bringing fire to history."--Science

"Stephen J. Pyne compels our admiration for his gargantuan ambition and richly informed intelligence. He tells us more than anyone else to date has about the role of fire in the landscape, tells us we have been wrong in assuming a pristine state of nature before the white man's invasion, tells us what fire has meant to the rise of civilization and this nation. No one interested in environmental history can afford to ignore this massive achievement."--Journal of American History

"This unusual and imaginative work takes a phenomenon that seems at first glance to be so elemental as to have no history and no evolution, and gives it a dynamic role in the drama of American advance from frontier through agricultural to industrial society. By integrating the history of fire with ecology, agriculture, logging, and resource management, Pyne has made a unique contribution to the history of science and technology, as well as to cultural history in general."--Isis

From the Publisher

On rare occasions, the historical literature is enriched by the introduction of a broad new field for study, by a book that dramatically expands the boundaries of scholarly investigation. Stephen Pyne’s Fire in America is such a book. It achieves the Promethean goal of bringing fire to history.

Science