When It All Burns

Starred review from March 1, 2025
Anthropologist Thomas begins this profoundly relevant book by reminding readers that the earliest Europeans to set eyes on the American West were unaware that the bounteous landscapes they surveyed had been curated for thousands of years by Indigenous peoples through the masterful use of controlled burns. Fast-forward to 2021, when Thomas finds himself a member of the elite federal firefighting forces known as Hotshots, whose job is often knocking down megafires caused not by controlled burns but rather by centuries of intentional fire suppression by the cultural descendants of those Europeans. In the midst of those infernos, which Thomas describes in grueling detail, the author lays out the tragic history of forestry management in America, from our ongoing misperception of forests in strictly commercial terms to the climate denialism fueling an ever more flammable planet to the fact that Hotshots often risk their lives defending not so much forests of fire-suppressing diversity but rather, tree plantations managed by private industry. As entomologist Douglas Tallamy alerted the world to the critical importance of insects to a healthy planet, so Thomas, in this spellbinding account, shows how thoughtful forestry management can begin to address the megafires now touching all of our lives.

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March 21, 2025

Anthropologist and former Los Padres hotshot wildland firefighter Thomas spent the 2021 fire season with the Los Padres hotshots at various locations throughout California and Arizona. In this engrossing work on wildfires and the environment, Thomas skillfully weaves together how historical events, genocide, politics, and the logging industry have all contributed to climate change, creating megafires throughout the American West. While most U.S. readers grew up with Smokey the Bear admonishing citizens about their responsibility for preventing forest fires, Thomas explains how the Indigenous peoples of California used fire to burn the forests carefully. While purposely burning forests sounds counterintuitive, this practice cleared away brush that could otherwise inadvertently catch fire, readied the land for agriculture, and regenerated the local flora and fauna. Colonization nearly wiped out these Indigenous fire practices, replacing them with modern-day fire suppression techniques and treating firefighting as war. Thomas also highlights the low pay and lack of a social safety net that plagues many fire crews today, discusses how firefighting turns a profit for private disaster response companies, and how this wealth affects environmental politics. VERDICT Suitable for academic and general audiences interested in firefighter culture, Indigenous history, and ecological and climate issues.--Aspasia Luster

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Starred review from May 1, 2025
The heat and history at the frontlines of an elite hotshot firefighting crew. Joining the Los Padres Hotshots crew was an endeavor so intense that the interview alone involved answering questions while climbing a trail at a pace extreme enough that it verged on causing a blackout. As an elite firefighting crew, the hotshots are tasked with containing the most intense megafires and asked to do the most extreme work. Thomas brings us to the front lines, deftly pulling the reader to the edge of the fire in evocative writing that reads like a thriller. An anthropologist, he's closely attuned to the hypermasculinity and culture of men sleeping in the dirt, putting their bodies through extreme situations, and holding conflicting ideals about the environment. The writing is powerful enough that the book does not sacrifice the more embodied intensity of the front lines for its meticulous research and intellectual analysis, instead managing to hold multiple realities taut. Perhaps the strongest segment of the book comes in its explosive analysis of the firefighting industry that reads as an expos�. "Megafires emerge from a series of fractured relationships--between fire, the land, our institutions, and each other," he writes, describing fire suppression and the resulting megafires as "the war on nature." He talks candidly about what scientists call the sacrifice zone: "a place where low-income people shoulder the burden of industrial misconduct." In this case, that means the hotshots, who are highly trained essential firefighters who could be one injury away from bankruptcy--contrasting with the firefighting industry, where a handful of individuals make massive profits from salvage logging, among other means. Thomas doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of the fire economy, maintaining the thriller-like momentum, but there's hope to be found here, too. With prescribed burn sites, community organizing, and sequoias wrapped in fire blankets, the future is something to fight for. This book raises up that fight. Thinking about fire has never been more essential--Thomas charts a map toward the future.

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