Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)

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. 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 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 Cover 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 1: NATURE'S FIRE Electrical Fire: A Natural History of Lightning Fire The Fire Environment: Principles of Fire Behavior Fire and Life: Principles of Fire Ecology The Burned-Over Districts: A Fire History of the Northeast 2: THE FIRE FROM ASIA Our Grandfather Fire: Fire and the American Indian These Conflagrated Prairies: A Fire History of the Grasslands Paiute Forestry: A History of the Light-Burning Controversy 3: THE FIRE FROM EUROPE Prometheus Bound: Fire and Europe Our Pappies Burned the Woods: A Fire History of the South Fire Wolves and Smokey Bears: A History of Fire Prevention 4: THE GREAT BARBECUE The Dragon Devastation: Fire and the Counterreclamation Sky of Brass, Earth of Ash: A Fire History of the Lake States From Fire and Axe: Private and Early Government Fire Protection 5: THE HEROIC AGE 1910: A Fire History of the Northern Rockies The Forester's Policy: A History of Fire Policy in the U.S. Forest Service A Moral and Legal Charge: A History of Fire Policy in the Department of the Interior and Interagency Organizations 6: A CONTINENTAL EXPERIMENT Fire and Water: A Fire History of the Northwest Cross Fire: Fire Protection by the States Under Fire: A History of Manpower in Fire Control 7: THE COLD WAR ON FIRE Firepower: Fire and Warfare A Burned-Out Case: A Fire History of Southern California The Best Tools: A History of Fire Equipment The Red Menace: A History of Rural Fire Defense 8: FIELDS OF FIRE The Thermal Pulse: A History of Wildland Fire Research Fire and Frost: A Fire History of Alaska Fire on the Mountain: A Fire History of the Southwest EPILOGUE: THE FORBIDDEN FLAME BIBLIOGRAPHIC ABBREVIATIONS NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY INDEX A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 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

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.