Table of Contents

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

Promotional Information

Aborigines and eucalyptuses in effect worked together to make Australia one of the premier firescapes of the planet. Even today the burning bush remains a perennial challenge on the vast island continent. -- William Cronon, from the Foreword

Reviews

"This is a phenomenal piece of research and writing, an epic that moves from prehistoric geology to contemporary firefighting theory and draws on an array of natural and social sciences to do so. This is geographical writing at its best and most exhaustive and will intrigue anyone interested in Australia, the environment or human civilization."
*San Francisco Chronicle*

"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*

"Stephen Pyne is a great storyteller, and here he weaves as fine a tale as one could imagine about a phenomenon as seemingly ordinary as fire."
*Natural History*

This is a phenomenal piece of research and writing, an epic that moves from prehistoric geology to contemporary firefighting theory and draws on an array of natural and social sciences to do so. This is geographical writing at its best and most exhaustive and will intrigue anyone interested in Australia, the environment or human civilization.

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.

Stephen Pyne is a great storyteller, and here he weaves as fine a tale as one could imagine about a phenomenon as seemingly ordinary as fire.

Fire's effect on Australia's native flora and human environs is investigated in this exhaustive, illuminating study. Photos. (Mar.)