To burn or not to burn - a question repeatedly and vociferously
answered in the affirmative by Pyne in this intensive, sometimes
densely philosophical examination of the relationship between
humans and fire. It is Pyne's thesis that the anthropogenic fires
of indigenous peoples prior to European contact mitigated the
danger of large conflagrations by controlling the build-up of
biomass that fuels wildfires. This ubiquitous human intervention in
the natural environment, avers Pyne (Arizona State Univ. West; Fire
on the Rim, 1989) is not unnatural; in fact, the biotica adapted to
and depended upon it. Conversely, European colonists, averse to
"primitive" land management, routinely suppressed fires. Pyne
documents the consequences of this folly in Australia, South
Africa, India, and Brazil. In each place, he says, the suppression
of natural fire (including those started by indigenous peoples) and
the introduction of foreign species and land-use practices degraded
the land, harmed biodiversity, and increased the threat of damaging
wildfire. Pyne, who himself has worked as a firefighter, has harsh
words for the US fire exclusion policies in general, and for
management of fire in the national parks, especially the massive
1988 Yellowstone wildfire, which was allowed to burn because it was
set by lightning and was therefore considered "natural." What is
natural, Pyne asks, in an environment that had been subjected to
fire suppression during the century leading up to the fire, and
what is unnatural, given the environment's previous millennia of
flourishing in the presence of anthropogenic fire? On the global
scale, Pyne warns that biodiversity can be threatened as much by
the absence of fire as by fire itself, noting that fire can
"countermand" some effects of global warming. In a deeper vein, he
urges his readers to regard the stewardship of fire as our "most
distinctive trait as a biological organism." Not always a ball of
fire, but the persevering reader will be treated to a
thought-provoking treatise on this most elemental of subjects.
(Kirkus Reviews)
World Fire is the story of how fire and humans have coevolved. The
two are inseperable, and together they have repeatedly remade the
planet.--"Stephen J. Pyne writes about fire as if he were on fire,
with searing, consuming heat and light. When he looks at fire he
sees not biological catastrophe but social illumination and natural
renewal...This book will change the way you view fire--and the way
you see us routinely fighting it." --Seattle Times--"Pyne considers
the evolution of fire in such diverse regions as Australia, Africa,
Brazil, Sweden, Greece, Iberia, Russia, and India and then ponders
Antarctica, the land without fire. As he examines changing
techniques for and attitudes toward fire control, Pyne challenges
our concepts of naturre and wilderness and explains why the study
and management of fire have tremendous environmental, cultural, and
political implications." -Booklist
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