Customer Reviews

On the Fireline: Living and Dying with Wildland Firefighters (Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Desmond's work crackles with rich detail, careful analysis, and helpful insights that not only teach us a great deal about the life of a firecrew but also the social meaning of risk, discipline, and place. Beautifully written, On the Fireline helps us understand the challenges and opportunities wildland firefighters face and what draws them to lead lives of the brink of danger. Many ethnographies generate more heat than light, but Desmond strikes the right balance, for this is a story that both captivates and educates.

On the Fireline is Matthew Desmond's sociological study of his time serving on wildland firefighting crews over several summers. Desmond was a college student and seasonal firefighter who recorded his observations of life on a fire crew. That is the one problem with his writing, there is a detached and a tiny feeling of poor less educated coworkers throughout the book. His details of what wildland firefighting entails is raw and gritty and some of the best writing about the actual work I have read. What throws this book off course are his observations and suppositions of the psychological and sociological forces driving his coworkers. He does a good job of exposing the deeply entrenched macho attitude within the firefighting community, but throws some of his coworkers under the bus to illustrate his point. Mixed in the observations are some thoughtful comments about the way the firefighting culture helps extend the rural culture that is disappearing in the US today. Desmond also throws in some observations on the necessity of conservation and land management and the constant struggle between the two. This book has some really wonderful writing but there are some portions that read more like a dissertation which muddle the message.

This book is an enjoyable read since I am a 31 year firefighter. Some of my best memories are fighting wildfire as a hand crew member, an engine compary firefighter, and a helitack crew member. This book describes the best and worst of firefighting in ways that puts you into the action and you know what the author is talking about. Mars and Venus readers should be required to read this.

The book is in great shape.
I have not got very deep into it thus far due to personal commitments but it seems like a great book.
What I have read, I will strongly recommend it to others.

Those merely interested in an adventure read about a dangerous job will get more than they bargained for from this book, which takes a long, hard glance at the world of wildland firefighting to reveal the unspoken rules that shape it and sometimes imperil its inhabitants. Desmond was a seasonal wildland firefighter himself, but he's also a sociologist. His insights into his subject have both an insider's intimacy and an observer's objectivity. The pages of raw, unedited banter between Desmond's firecrew colleagues can seem mismatched next to the more academic passages that introduce his subtle observations, but Desmond's ideas are provocative, and his analysis promotes a timely understanding of the values and principles that motivate wildland firefighters.

I am very dissapointed after reading what I had hoped to be a book that finally acurately portrays wildland firefighting. What I got instead was another schoolgirl daily diary from a seasonal employee with very little real fire experience. Author and cohorts description of helitack, hotshots, engine crews, smokejumpers, and structure firefighters missed the mark considerably, and was quite offensive to one who has worked in more than one of those professions. Other authors such as Mclean(sp) much more accurately reflect the tragedy of loss of life and serious injury on the fireline. Unfortunately to date all attempts at describing day to day wildland firefighting have been seriously tainted by author bias and inexperience. I don't recommend spending your money on the slick covered book with not much real substance.

This book held all the promise of a great adventure, a work of art anyone could glean important firefighting facts from, but ended up being a great disappointment. The author has limited knowledge of fire crews - having worked on only one - and tried his best to explain the character and personality of the average one. Sorry, but the population sample for his analysis and conclusions was hopelessly small. I recommend skipping this book entirely. The reader will not be satisfied and will more than likely end up with a skewed vision of a real wildland firefighter.

A must-have book for the serious student of wildland firefighting. An actual and factual accounting of the life and career of the men and women who face great dangers, with limited resources, and accomplish so much through personal strength and straight raw courage.

This is one of the few books I have been able to put down, in fact I haven't been able to finish it yet. One day I may run out of ceral boxes to read and pick it back up again. But until I finish the other half of this book I will have to give it a "no". I have found very little insight in the lives of firefighters and don't think I will walk away from this book with anything of any value