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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wide But Not Deep, November 20, 2001
For any author attempting to satisfy readers after delivering a book as widely celebrated as, "The Perfect Storm", the task is almost impossible. This is the task that Sebastian Junger faced when presenting his second book to readers. The 10 stories he collects here will be familiar to many as the majority appeared in magazine form prior to being collected between these covers. With his first book he demonstrated how well he could place a reader in the midst of a tale. His writing was detailed, authentic; he gave readers a vicarious experience of feeling they were close to, if not on The Andrea Gale. He wrote what he felt he needed to write to tell the story. These are essentially magazine articles, and as such are confined to the space they were allotted. The stories are well written and have the effect, intended or not, of becoming bits of autobiographical sketches of the author. I enjoyed this aspect, and it raised my general enjoyment of the collection. The amount of knowledge a reader may possess on a given topic will also determine how interesting the stories will be to a given person. With all the information that we are receiving daily about Afghanistan, his story, "A Lion In Winter", may have less impact than it might have had if the nightmare of September 11 had not happened. I am not suggesting the story is poorly done; rather its informative value may have been overtaken by current events. These stories will also take you to the sites of forest fires, to Kosovo and the author's first person accounts of the evil he witnessed, to The Caribbean, and to Sierra Leone. Most of these articles have themes and endings that make the fate of The Andrea Gale much less graphic and unsettling. Much of what is relayed is from places where war is actively being pursued, or the mess that is left behind contemplated. The author will frequently take an incident from the present and relate it to events no less horrible but often less well known, or worse, less acknowledged. It is at these points that his writing expands from that of a reporter speaking of a given event, to a person placing his experience in the context of a larger history. I have recently read two books documenting a trial where the issue of Dresden in World War II was prominent. Mr. Junger quotes figures from the effects of the bombing of Dresden that are not consistent with the historical record. This was the only item presented as fact that I believe to be inaccurate. I don't know whether he knew the correct appraisal when he wrote the story, however either he or his editor should have corrected it prior to the story being published in 2001. This issue is not a fatal flaw, as the events at Dresden are an example of the horrors of war. It still rates as an item worth noting for history must be as accurate as possible, and corrected if new facts emerge.
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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Wrong Title, Wrong Cover, Right Author, January 4, 2002
Sebastian Junger is a craftsman of repute. With honed words and dispassionate facts, he takes us into the drama and horror of situations around the globe. His skill is apparent through each chapter of this book. In the beginning, he tells us that he started his previous book "The Perfect Storm" intending to write of dangerous professions around the world, not just that of commercial fishermen. In "Fire" he gives us insight into more than one dangerous occupation; thus, the book might be more aptly titled "Danger Zones." "Fire," however, falls short of its billing. The title and cover lend one to believe Junger will follow the lives of a fire crew battling a blaze, as he did with commercial fishermen facing "The Perfect Storm." But this book is actually old news. The chapters are reprinted articles (some outdated in information and some redundant in their research). The scenes are vivid and full of engrossing detail, yet lose some of their power in the retelling and in the disjointed stitching of mismatched pieces. I felt that his chapter "Colter's Way" would've made a nice lead up to the more current stories, and his chapter about his own boyhood brush with danger could've set the book's pace with a personal touch. Instead, "Fire" broke out in too many places and I lost my zeal to keep reading. Halfway through, I had to consciously choose to continue. I hope Junger brings us some fresh stuff next time around. Until then, I'm feeling only lukewarm.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid journalism, October 31, 2001
Sebastian Junger's book "Fire" is getting a lot of attention these days becasue of Junger's visit to Afghanistan in November 2000, and his visit with the military leader of the Northern Alliance, who has since been assassinated. This section, however, is only one chapter in a book that is a collection of diverse stories ranging from reportage on Western U.S. wildfires to the battlefields of Kosovo and Sierra Leonne. Junger is a good reporter and an excellent writer who knows how to make his stories come alive for the reader. He originally conceived a book in which he would report on the most dangerous jobs in the world, hence the first two chapters on Western firefighters and the third on a traditional whale hunter. Junger then discovered he had a knack as a foreign correspondent and ventured into some of the world's war zones. With all of his stories, Junger provides valuable insight for the reader, especially in his reporting on the long standing division of Cyprus, which he co-authored with another journalist. The only drawback is that Junger's pieces are the original magazine articles and are not expanded upon for the book. The focus of each article also tends to be very narrow, especially in the foreign pieces. Junger lacks the depth of master correspondent like Thomas Friedman, and the book is fairly slight at just over 220 pages. Nevertheless, he is a skilled writer, and this makes for excellent and informative reading.
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