On the Fireline: Living and Dying with Wildland Firefighters

by Matthew Desmond

In this rugged account of a rugged profession, Matthew Desmond explores the heart and soul of the wildland firefighter. Having joined a firecrew in Northern Arizona as a young man, Desmond relates his experiences with intimate knowledge and native ease, adroitly balancing emotion with analysis and action with insight. On the Fireline shows that these firefighters aren’t the adrenaline junkies or romantic heroes as they’re so often portrayed. An immersion into a dangerous world, On the Fireline is also a sophisticated analysis of a high-risk profession—and a captivating read. “Gripping . . . a masterful account of how young men are able to face down wildfire, and why they volunteer for such an enterprise in the first place.”—David Grazian, Sociological Forum “Along with the risks and sorrow, Desmond also presents the humor and comaraderie of ordinary men performing extraordinary tasks. . . . A good complement to Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire . Recommended.”— Library Journal

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Sociology, Memoir

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Matthew Desmond is social scientist and urban ethnographer. He is the Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. He is also a Contributing Writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Desmond is the author of over fifty academic studies and several books, including "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City," which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, National Book Critics Circle Award, Carnegie Medal, and PEN / John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction.

"Evicted" was listed as one of the Best Books of 2016 by The New York Times, New Yorker, Washington Post, National Public Radio, and several other outlets. It has been named one of the Best 50 Nonfiction Books of the Last 100 Years and was included in the 100 Best Social Policy Books of All Time.

Desmond's research and reporting focuses on American poverty and public policy. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award, and is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society. He has been listed among the Politico 50, as one of “fifty people across the country who are most influencing the national political debate.”

Reviews

[Eliza Oldach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book fell into my life at the perfect moment. I picked it up (from a 1/2-price shelf in a thrift store in Boston) on my way back to smoky California, heading into another year of sociology-adjacent PhD work-- Desmond's tellings of wildland firefighting and sociological methods, both, carried real insights for me. Read this book for the insights into wildland firefighting circa 2000-- it offers richly-detailed portraits of the lives and philosophies of Forest Service firefighters. But also read it for the methods. Desmond's attention to revealing hidden layers of wildland firefighting could feel like exploitative ethnography, a tell-all-- but instead, he manages to do this work in a way that is empathetic and accountable to his firefighting community.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Evicted, which is high on my list of favorite books I've ever read, I was surprised to see the author was previously a wildland firefighter. The style feels very similar in that this book has the "3 languages of the sociologist" defined as the language of the people one studies, the professionals one belongs among, and the public one hopes to inform -- employed to such great effect in Evicted -- but definitely feels like a thesis converted to a book for the public (which it was) by an author still finding his feet.

Still, the portrait he is able to paint due to his familiarity with the work (the notes for this book were taken in his 4th season working as a firefighter with many of the same crew), comes through extremely well.

[Em Cupo · Rating 5 out of 5]

desmond presents a phenomenal usage of carnal ethnography -- truly one of the best (if not the best) i've ever read. ethnography is always special, but carnal ethnography can be especially enriching and transcendent. the story becomes tangible. the way desmond observes himself, his friends, and wildland firefighting is raw and real. growing up as someone with a father in a 'high risk' profession made this all the more insightful and thought provoking. absolutely loved the way he discusses masculinity and country masculine habitus.

[Dawn S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting book. Desmond looks at the social and institutional structures of a group of wildland firefighters. Desmond was himself part of the crew for 4 summers, and during the last summer he undertook documenting the experience through notes and interviews as part of his thesis--which then became this book. The writing can be dry and technical at times, but overall the study is interesting and thought-provoking.

[Bri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good. Dragged at times due to excessive citations. You can tell this was an adapted masters thesis. Great writing, great stories, great justification. If this guy wasn’t an extremely popular sociologist, professor, and Pulitzer winner for a different book, I’d send him a letter about this book and how much I appreciated it. Unfortunately it would never get there. I plan to buy my own copy of this book, I appreciated it so much.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating sociological study on wildland firefighters. Interesting piece compared to more historical or memoir-type books, that I also enjoyed. Recommend for those that are interested in a more scholarly approach to wildland firefighting.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good ethnography of wildland firefighters, though could have used some more editing in places. Definitely felt like more of a PhD dissertation than Evicted.

[Brayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I normally don't review my "work books" on here because I figure my friends don't care to read them, but this one might be interesting to a lot of you, whether you're sociologists or not. The book details what it's like to be a wildland firefighter in Arizona, describing the risks and physical demands of the job and explaining how firefighters overcome the uncertainty of the job to put themselves in dangerous situations. Desmond describes the inner life of the firefighter as being guided by a "country masculinity" that makes certain jobs, duties, and tasks more or less routine for the worker, without ever having to go through extensive on-the-job training. So, for example, minor car repair, even though it's not part of the official training of being a firefighter, is the sort of thing that a "real man" living in rural Arizona should do. Most of the firefighters have picked these needed skills up over the course of their training to be men.

Of course, being a real man entails more than just knowing how to do a few useful things around the farm or house. Much of manliness encompasses a range of social skills that help the men get along and survive the boredom of waiting for the next big fire. The skills involved things like knowing how to tell the right dirty jokes, how to tease other men, figuring out the right level of cleanliness, etc. Some of the men Desmond worked with were better at this than others. The cost for not using these skills in the right way was not fitting in and becoming the butt of jokes and endless teasing. You feel pity for the poor guy who lacked country masculinity.

I liked the book because it described a kind of manliness that I grew up with in rural Idaho. I worked for the Forest Service for a year in high school, and so the people Desmond describes in the book were very real to me. It brought back a lot of memories and made me a bit nostalgic for rural life. Desmond writes with compassion, clarity, and sufficient humor to make this anything but text-bookish.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very well done. If there is anyone out there who would like to really understand fire this is the book to read. The author captures all the little nuances that are so many times lost by Maclean and other fire authors because they have not fought fire.

There were a few things that were definitely crew-specific, and he didn't point those out and seems to believe that that is the way all fire crews think and are, which I have seen different. But again, overall it was very authentic and painted a good picture of what fire is like.

[Dirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best ethnography I have been reading in recent years. Desmond spend more than 2 years in the fire service and developed an ethnography that adds to various areas of research, including the sociology of organisations, the work I risky domains, addresses the question why people take on life threatening jobs as well as the current debate about causality and ethnography. The book is very well written and highly recommendable also to those working in the fire service and managing risky organisations.

[Tim Neale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Understandably, this book is not as good a 'read' as Evicted. It is based on Desmond's Masters thesis and has some of the staging of a thesis throughout. Nonetheless, the examples and narratives are well-chosen, and it wears its grounding in sociology/scholarship lightly enough for a broad spectrum of readers.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

at least it wasn't too preachy.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing.. You can tell this author put there heart into writing this book. I highly recommend it. I definitely will be reading more of Matthew Desmond's work.