Pyne traces the impact of fire in Australia, from its influence on vegetation to its use by Aborigines and European settlers.“Mr. Pyne, showing what a historian deeply schooled in environmental science can contribute to our awareness of nature and culture, has produced a provocative work that is a major contribution to the literature of environmental studies.”—New York Times Book Review
Cuprins
Foreword by William Cronon
Preface to the 1998 Paperback Edition
Preface to the Original Edition: Firestick History
Map of Australia
Map of Australia’s Vegetation
Prologue: Dust to Dust
BOOK ONE: THE EUCALYPT
The Universal Australian
Unemaginable Freaks of Fire: Profile of a Pyrophyte
Red Centre: Fire Regimes of Old Australia
Land of Contraries
BOOK TWO: THE ABORIGINE
Flaming Front
Fierstick Farmer: Profile of a Pyrophile
Fires of the Dreaming
Smokes by Day, Fires by Night: Fire Regimes of Aboriginal Australia
This Wonderful Depository of Fire
BOOK THREE: THE EUROPEAN
Entwining Fire
Reconnaissance by Fire: Education of a Pyrophile
Red Steer and Green Pick
Beyond the Black Stump
Fire Conservancy
Burning Off: Fire Provinces of European Australia
When the Billy Boiled
BOOK FOUR: THE NEW AUSTRALIAN
The Two Fires
Antipodean Fire: The Australian Strategy
Wild Bush, Urban Bush: Fire Regimes in New Australia
Epilogue: Ashes to Ashes
Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index
Despre autor
Stephen J. Pyne is a professor in the Biology and Society Program at Arizona State Universty. He is the author of many books, including Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910 and Fire on the Rim: A Firefighter’s Season at the Grand Canyon. Fire: A Brief History is the sixth volume in Pyne’s Cycle of Fire, which also includes Vestal Fire, World Fire, Burning Bush, The Ice and Fire in America.