An engaging and well-written exploration into all things wildfire with a view to commending the practice of consistent controlled burning.

The author fully immerses herself in the world of wildfires: she remains a writer but very much becomes a wildland firefighter and trained in both fire suppression and controlled fires. Much of the book is her recounting her experiences in both controlled burns and wildfires. She interviews many people who have been very engaged in terms of wildland fire.

She also recounts the history of how the Indigenous people of at least North America consistently burned the land. This is attested both by Indigenous lore and the accounts of early white settlers. She also explores how we have come to our current fire suppression consensus: the "enlightened" belief that we should leave nature alone, the mythic allure of the untouched, undeveloped land, and a lot of bigotry, prejudice, and hostility toward fire and burning. It escaped their minds to imagine how fire might cleanse a land, and how the land we all now live in was not untouched wilderness but had been significantly managed by humans for millennia.

Through her conversations and experiences one can perceive the insanity of our current fire suppression regime, and how often attempts at fire suppression can lead to even greater amounts of territory burned. She explains the developments we've gained in fire science and the dangerous prospect of megafires doing mega-damage. We have created the unholy combination of a warmer planet while allowing excessive amount of flammable material to spread throughout the forests of America. It will eventually end in it all being burned; the only question is whether it will be burned with "good fire" that cleanses and renews or "bad fire" which scorches.

The time is long past to again appreciate Indigenous knowledge and to restore controlled burning throughout the country on a consistent basis, and above all, to recognize fire is "normal," and the complete absence of fire in the land is the artificial and unnatural situation which we have created and which we will not be able to sustain.

Worth reading.

**--galley received as part of early review program ( )