"The fate of humanity, like the fate of the earth, is tied to the fires that have made the world as we know it—the fires whose history is told as well in this book as it has ever been told before. If one wants to understand just how completely the story of the human past is also the story of fire on earth, there is no better place to start than this small book."—William Cronon Here, in one concise book, is the essential story of fire. Noted environmental historian Stephen J. Pyne describes the evolution of fire through prehistoric and historic times down to the present, examining contemporary attitudes from a long-range, informed perspective. Fire: A Brief History surveys the principles behind aboriginal and agricultural fire practices, the characteristics of urban fire, and the relationship between controlled combustion and technology. Pyne describes how fire’s role in cities, suburbs, exurbs, and wildlands has been shaped by an industrialized, urban way of thinking. Fire: A Brief History will be of value to readers interested in the environment from the standpoint of anthropology, geography, forestry, science and technology, history, or the humanities.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Foreword: Small Book, Big Story Introduction: Kindling FIRE AND EARTH: CREATING COMBUSTION How Fire Came to Be How Life Accommodated Fire First Fire Today Touched by Fire FRONTIERS OF FIRE (PART 1): FIRE COLONIZING BY HOMINIDS What Made Early Fires Effective First Contact: When Fire Arrives Lost Contact: When Fire Departs ABORIGINAL FIRE: CONTROLLING THE SPARK Why They Burned Where and How They Burned Dying Fire: When the Firestick Leaves AGRICULTURAL FIRE: CULTIVATING FUEL The FIre in Agriculture's Hearth How to Cultivate Fire What They Meant to Each Other Rites of Fire FRONTIERS OF FIRE (PART 2): FIRE COLONIZING BY AGRICULTURE How Conversion Leads to Colonization Stories from the Fire Frontier Comings and Goings of Agricultural Fire Today URBAN FIRE: BUILDING HABITATS FOR FIRE Hearth and House: Making a Home for Fire Built to Burn: A Fire Ecology for the City Combustible The Eternal Flame Invisible: Fire in the Industrial City PYROTECHNICS: FIRE AND TECHNOLOGY Prometheus Uncained Cycles of Pyrotechnology: How Fire Has Cooked the Earth Fire Powers: Controlled--and Not-So-Controlled--Fire as Mover and Shaker Fire in the Mud FRONTIERS OF FIRE (PARK 3): FIRE COLONIZING BY EUROPE How Europe Expanded Fire's Realm How Europe Contained Fire's Realm How Europe Redefined Fire's Realm INDUSTRIAL FIRE: STOKING THE BIG BURN How Industrial Combustion Has Added Fire How Industrial Combustion Has Subtracted Fire How Industrial Combustion Has Rearranged Fire Regimes THE FUTURE OF FIRE: BURNING BEYOND THE MILLENIUM As the World Burns: What Is and Isn't Burning, and Where Still the Keeper of the Flame Selected Sources and Further Reading Index