Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World

When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World

Thomas, Jordan

Hardcover

Biographies GeneralEnvironmental StudiesGeneral Sociology

Publisher Price: $30.00

ISBN10: 059354482X
ISBN13: 9780593544822
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Published: May 27 2025
Pages: 368
Weight: 1.11
Height: 1.37 Width: 6.36 Depth: 9.26
Language: English
2025 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD GOLD MEDAL WINNER
FINALIST FOR THE LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY AND KIRKUS

Exceptional. . . . When It All Burns is one of those books that immerses the reader in the nuances of a world most of us know only through the lens of tragedy and destruction. Thomas' visceral, crystalline prose only adds fuel to the fire. --Los Angeles Times

A gripping firsthand account of a record-setting fire season, from a cultural anthropologist who spent a year working as a hotshot firefighter, exploring the history and future of fire in America

Eighteen of California's largest wildfires on record have burned in the past two decades. Scientists recently invented the term megafire to describe wildfires that behave in ways that would have been nearly impossible just a generation ago, burning through winter, exploding in the night, and devastating landscapes historically impervious to incendiary destruction.

In When It All Burns, wildland firefighter and anthropologist Jordan Thomas recounts a single, brutal six-month fire season with the Los Padres Hotshots--the special forces of America's firefighters. Being a hotshot is among the most difficult jobs on earth. Thomas viscerally renders his crew's attempts to battle flames that are often too destructive to contain. He uncovers the hidden cultural history of megafires, revealing how humanity's symbiotic relationship with wildfire became a war--and what can be done to change it back.

Thomas weaves ecology and the history of Indigenous peoples' oppression, federal forestry, and the growth of the fire industrial complex into a riveting narrative about a new phase in the climate crisis. It's an immersive story of community in the most perilous of circumstances, told with humor, humility, and affection.

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