Smokechasing [Hardcover]

Stephen J. Pyne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2003

"Painting, architecture, politics, even gardening and golf—all have their critics and commentators," observes Stephen Pyne. "Fire does not." Aside from news reports on fire disasters, most writing about fire appears in government reports and scientific papers—and in journalism that has more in common with the sports page than the editorial page. Smokechasing presents commentaries by one of America's leading fire scholars, who analyzes fire the way another might an election campaign or a literary work. "Smokechasing" is an American coinage describing the practice of sending firefighters into the wild to track down the source of reported smoke. Now a self-described "friendly fire critic" tracks down more of the history and lore of fire in a collection that focuses on wildland fire and its management. Building on and complementing a previous anthology, World Fire, this new collection features thirty-two original articles and substantial revisions of works that have previously appeared in print. Pyne addresses many issues that have sparked public concern in the wake of disastrous wildfires in the West, such as fire ecology, federal fire management, and questions relating to fire suppression. He observes that the mistake in fire policy has been not that wildfires are suppressed but that controlled fires are no longer ignited; yet the attempted forced reintroduction of fire through prescribed burning has proved difficult, and sometimes damaging. There are, Pyne argues, many fire problems; some have technical solutions, some not. But there is no evading humanity's unique power and responsibility: what we don't do may be as ecologically powerful as what we do. Throughout the collection, Pyne makes it clear that humans and fire interact at particular places and times to profoundly shape the world, and that understanding the contexts in which fire occurs can tell us much about the world's natural and cultural landscapes. Fire's context gives it its meaning, and Smokechasing not only helps illuminate those contexts but also shows us how to devise new contexts for tomorrow's fires.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Through more than a dozen major works, Pyne (Fire: A Brief History) has shown himself to be both a nature writer and a cultural historian of the first order. Using wildfire as the lens through which he focuses on human interactions with the environment, these 32 essays (a successor to his earlier anthology World Fire: The Culture of Fire and Earth) deepen and extend Pyne's long-time interest in how "fire, for humanity, is more than a process: it is a relationship." But here, in a departure from his more lengthy historical narratives, Pyne directs his efforts toward "a more robust literary inquiry," in an attempt "to analyze fire as [he] would an art moderne house, an election campaign, or a rereading of Ulysses." The result is as remarkable as it is varied. Some of the best essays exhibit Pyne's sharp and astute analyses of how different fire-based systems and practices are used by various cultures in Africa, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand, and show how, "as a dialectic between humans and nature, fire regimes express the values, institutions and beliefs of their sustaining societies." Overall, these sharply written essays argue convincingly for Pyne's core belief that "fire practices are, ultimately, a moral matter, relating to who we are and how we should behave."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"Will greatly contribute . . . in the intense ongoing debates over federal fire management policies and practices." -- Timothy Ingalsbee, Director, Western Fire Ecology Center

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press; First Edition edition (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816522847
• ISBN-13: 978-0816522842
• Product Dimensions: 260 x 9 x 6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,667,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Chasing not smoke but meaning, April 16, 2003

By 

Michael J. Miller (Evansville, In USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Smokechasing (Paperback)

This may be the most confusing book I've ever read. It isn't that
there isn't useful information in it, it's just it's scattered, repetitious, and intermixed with large blocks of what I assume Mr. Pyne thinks is relevant philosophy. You'll find yourself skipping over a great many paragraphs of this last.

The other major failing it that, while the author devotes a great deal of (scattered) space to his criticisms of existing wildfire control practices, he never makes clear what methodology he is in favor of.

Save your time and money and skip this one. I wish I had.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars useful to those who think AND do, January 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Smokechasing (Paperback)

This is a good collection of essays on the world of wildland fire, from history to philosophy to grubbing in the dirt. It is not for those who are not already part of wildland fire; you have to DO it to get it, I guess. If you get it, the essays on prescribed fire are thoughtful criticisms of the status quo, and are strong calls for those of us who use prescribed fire to stop taking it for granted before we lose it. Those essays are highly recommended for all thinking firefighters and fire managers.