Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Book) [Paperback]

Stephen J. Pyne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1998 | Series: Weyerhaeuser Environmental Book

Pyne traces the impact of fire in Australia, from its influence on vegetation to its use by Aborigines and European settlers.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This history by a noted environmental historian and author of The Ice ( LJ 11/15/86) acknowledges the importance of fire to Australia both biologically and culturally. It interprets major fires, the use of fire by the aborigines and European settlers, changing attitudes toward fire control and prevention, and conflict over government policies like the "Australian strategy" of aerial ignition. While the book is arranged chronologically into four major parts, the narrative within sections is topical and episodic. The material is thought-provoking but the treatment is a bit prolix. The work most similar to this book is Pyne's Fire in America ( LJ 9/15/82), which also aims to integrate fire history into the nation's general history.
- Janice Dunham, John Jay Coll. Lib., CUNY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"This is a phenomenal piece of research and writing, an epic that moves from prehistoric geology to contemporary firefighting theory and draws on an array of natural and social sciences to do so. This is geographical writing at its best and most exhaustive and will intrigue anyone interested in Australia, the environment or human civilization." -- San Francisco Chronicle

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Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press; 1st Edition in this form edition (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295976772
• ISBN-13: 978-0295976778
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,239,973 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars THIS BOOK IS TOO LONG!, August 12, 2001

By 

Severin Olson (Hyattsville, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia (Paperback)

Everything about Australia's fire history from its geologic origins to the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires can be found in this book. Perhaps a little too much. We learn about everything from the Flora and Fauna of the continent, to aboriginal fire practices, to modern fire fighting techniques. If one wishes to know about all of this, then the Burning Bush is an indespensible source. For those with more narrow interests, be weary. I bought the book to learn about the major fires that have devastated the country periodically. The accounts are there, but the first one appeared 220 pages into the book! All of the accounts combined cover only around twenty pages. Readers with similar interests will find the book to be a 400 page yawn. Pyne would have been better served to narrow his focus a bit. It's all there, but more than most other books the reader will want to refer to the index rather than slog through each page.