Fire

by Sebastian Junger

Forest fires, terrorism, explorations of danger by the author of The Perfect Storm.

In Fire, Sebastian Junger brings to bear the same meticulous prose that made A Perfect Storm a modern classic onto the inner workings of a terrifying elemental force—an out-of-control inferno burning in the steep canyons of Idaho—and the cast of characters risking everything to bring that force under control.

Few writers have been to so many desperate corners of the globe as has Sebastian Junger; fewer still have provided such starkly memorable evocations of characters and events. From the murderous mechanics of the diamond trade in Sierra Leone to the logic of guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan and the forensics of genocide in Kosovo, this collection of Junger's nonfiction will take you places you wouldn't dream of going to on your own.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Adventure, Essays, Journalism, War, Science

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Sebastian Junger is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of War, The Perfect Storm, Fire, and A Death in Belmont. Together with Tim Hetherington, he directed the Academy Award-nominated film Restrepo, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and has been awarded a National Magazine Award and an SAIS Novartis Prize for journalism. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the book is entitled "Fire" and the first part is comprised of an introduction to the essay on fire jumpers and forest fire fighting that immediately follows, the balance of the book is a series of Sebastian Junger's essays from wartorn or conflicted areas of the world. Junger is a talented journalist and writer; I deliberately use these two different words: "Journalist" in that he notices things well and, it seems to me, records events accurately while walking the fine line between "just the facts, ma'am" and compassion. "Writer" in that he simply writes enormously well, and there are few things more enjoyable to read than excellent journalistic writing.

The "Fire" essay introduces the reader to the finest traits in humans, in addition to describing scientifically the why's and how's of forest and wilderness fire behavior. (Personally, anyone reading this will (or should) never consider such foolishness as building vacation homes in wilderness areas...) As with Junger's "The Perfect Storm," which included a basic and horrifying description of the mechanics of drowning, how a person dies in a fire is similarly unflinchingly described. Junger provides a lot of information about national forest fire management - all very interesting for "information junkie" readers - as well as "on the ground" (and in the woods...) you are there moments.

The balance of the essays share the commonality of (a) being terrific journalistic essays, and (b) focusing on danger and the men (rarely the women in this book) who live in it, either through choice or bad luck. However, the similarity stops there. With the exception of an essay on whale hunting in the Caribbean, the situations described in the rest of the book are all man (human) made due to the worst of human nature. Junger reports from the Balkans, Pakistan, Cyprus, Sierra Leone, and Afghanistan. (The latter essay is particularly poignant given that the essay and this book, while published in 2001, pre-dated both 9/11 and certain events in that country.)

All of these parts of the world are or recently have been sites of the worst of human behavior against other humans - reading (listening in my case) to these accounts reminds me of something I once heard in a scientist's lecture: physiologically (and psychologically) humans have changed remarkably little since the early days of our species, primarily due to our late evolution, chronologically, large brain size, and the (long) lengths of our lives; however, our tools and means of killing each other have become remarkably refined. Basically, the capacity of humans for spite, pettiness, prejudice, greed, power, and territorial-ness (all presumably having some place in pre-historic times when food was scarce and hunting grounds dear) continues to outstrip, ironically, our humanity or, rather, our compassion. (These essays also make me think what a revolutionary Jesus Christ was, with his overall message of compassion - this is a POLITICAL and not a religious statement. Would that more self-professed Christians act more humanely, this coming from a church-goer who herself doesn't always follow "WWJD". But I digress.)

Junger is clearly drawn to these dangerous and dramatic situations, and admits as much in the course of the essays. He has a remarkable talent for "putting the reader there" while also parsing out the big picture. It's his decency in doing so that, frankly, keeps the reader - kept me - from falling into a huge spiral-down funk while reading these stories. One can't help but wonder about the families and children who are born into and live in these torn areas, and who grow up fearing and hating. What is the future of us all? Well, not entirely bad if this one journalist and writer, and others like him (and those who help all of them, as Junger points out in his Acknowledgment), continue to be drawn to these areas, notice the world - both the big and little things - on all of our behalf, and then record what they see in clear, beautiful language.

This Harper Audio / Recorded Books Direct unabridged recording is read in part by the author and the balance by Kevin Conway. Mr. Conway does a fine job; however, author Junger reads well and I would have preferred that he read the entire book. Good author readings just add a certain something to delivering the text and mood.

[Chris Gager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looks like I put my review beginning where the "comment" goes. Not paying attention - again. Can't figure out how to edit it out. Oops - I just did ... anyway, last night I read a story from Men's Journal(1994), read there by me long ago. Nasty forest fire just west of Glenwood Springs and I-70 in Colorado. Killed a bunch of firefighters ...

Last night I went back to the beginning and read the first essay, an account of fire season up by Boise. Unlike the Colorado story, which is reported after-the-fact, SJ got himself somewhat in the middle of things up in Idaho. He seems to like to do that.

- SJ refers to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon as being part of the Mogollon Rim, but I'm not so sure about that. Seems to me that the rim is actually 100 +/- miles south, below Flagstaff even.

"The Whale Hunters" is about the continuation(as of 1995) of legal indigenous whale "hunting"(i. e. killing) in the Caribbean. Whale killing is evil. Period. No matter how "colorful" the killers may be.

"Escape from Kashmir" - Well, one resourceful guy escaped. The fate of the others was up in the air as of the end of the story in 1996. It looks like they all were killed.(Wiki 2019)

- a guy is way up and out there trekking in a pair of un-broken in hiking boots??????

"Kosovo's Valley of Death"(1998) - Just when I was thinking of all the good of mankind, there's this ...

"Dispatches from a Dead War"(1999) - I vaguely remember the the big dust-up of 1974 and the political set-up behind it that took place in 1960 when Makarios became the first president of the Republic of Cyprus. Still reading ...

Finished last night with articles/reporting about those who court danger(rock climbers, etc.), more Balkan nastiness, the Afghan war(s) pre-9/11/01 ... all good, interesting stuff, if a bit dated in 2019.

3.75* rounds up to 4*.

[Brian Bova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed all the stories except for the one on Whale Harpooning. At the end of every story it seemed to just end while I was waiting for more to each one. Least liked book from Junger Ive read.

[W. Brad "Zorknot" Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays, not a cohesive book. I have to say that each essay left me wanting more, which is kind of good and bad. The title essay is on smoke jumpers, and it had a lot of information and good stories, but if you're looking for a book on smoke jumping or even things that are related to fire, you might be disappointed.

That said, the other essays are amazing in their own right. Junger tells of the many dangerous situations he's been in and the political situations that caused the violence he was witness to in away that makes you cringe at how people could be so cruel even as you begin to understand the cruelty.

One of the essays was written just before 9/11 and talks about an Afghani fighter named Massoud who was conducting a guerrilla war against the Taliban. Goodreads lists the book as having more pages than my version has, so it might be that there has been a new edition since 9/11. If so I don't know about it. It's a strange thing reading an article about the Taliban before the attack. It's almost like watching a horror movie when someone leaves to go investigate a noise. Except you don't have the comfort of believing it could never happen. It did happen. And the article points out how the rise of the Taliban is directly linked to the fall of the Soviet Union. So it's difficult to point to one thing and say it should have been done differently. Like I said. Strange.

I'm definitely glad I read this book. And I'll keep it in case I need to know something about one of the wars Junger covers or something about smoke jumping, but while I knew this was a collection going in, I was still expecting more of a through line that would tie everything together and instead it just seemed like a hodge podge.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Sebastian had just stuck with the first story about the firefighters, this book could've easily received a 4th star. Bummed that the title was misleading. Other stories of "dangerous jobs" were interesting, but nothing as gripping as the forest fires.

[Margaret Carmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book may be twenty years old, but it's still nearly as relevant as the day it was written.

Fire is a collection of narrative nonfiction journalism covering dangerous corners of the globe in the late 1990s, starting with wildland firefighters in Idaho and Colorado and ending in Afghanistan on the even of 9/11. Junger's strength here is not only how delves into the research behind these conflicts, like the war in Kosovo or Sierra Leone's diamond-fueled brutality, but by carefully placing himself and his own experiences in these places into the stories you get a sense of what it's like to be there in a way that a purely traditional story wouldn't allow you to often do. It shows a keep sense of observation and interviewing skills to show this level of detail and observation, while not making him the story.

I don't know if this was intentional or not, but this book ends up being an examination of a series of intractable conflicts that sprouted across the globe in the 1990s and (often) are still ongoing today. These stories explain conflicts you may not have thought much about (man vs. fire, or man vs. man) and digs into all of the nuance behind why they remain so stubbornly violent and endless. This was particularly on display in the nuanced explanations of the ongoing conflict on the island of Cyprus, which I was completely unaware of. You also viscerally feel the fear Junger experienced being bombed in Afghanistan or driving across the war-torn battlefields of Kosovo. It's a narrative that sticks with you, as well as informs you about corners of the globe Americans often leave purposely blank on their internal maps.

What a great snapshot of journalism. These stories are timeless, unfortunately.

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fire is a collection of short pieces from the 90s by master of narrative non-fiction Sebastian Junger. The work starts out with firefighting crews in the American west, and then moves through the conflicts of the 90s: Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Cyprus, Afghanistan. It's a weird collection, written in Fukuyama's End of History and published when history returned with a vengeance after 9/11. Two decades on, could we have a little less history, please?

Even pedestrian Junger is an entertaining and thoughtful read. My two favorite pieces were on the frozen conflict in Cyprus, which asks the question "If this went on forever, would anyone mind?", and a short piece on those who court danger called "Colter's Way", which gets at the heart of Junger's whole project: finding moments of adventure, of desperate life-or-death survival, beyond the stifling comforts of modernity.

[Kevin Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started reading back at the start of fire season to see what I was getting myself into. Only the first two chapters are actually about fire, but I found the other chapters to be worthwhile. Learned about the conflict in Cyprus and Kosovo, a bit more about Kashmir and Afghanistan pre-US invasion. I found a lot of value reading journalism contemporary to the events, which provided a lot of context.

Junger has this great bit about the etymology of adventure, from the Latin adventura, meaning "what must happen".

In terms of Supply Chain, this book includes an article about De Beers and diamonds in Sierra Leone. The article about the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan talks about two hundred billion barrels of oil under Central Asia and this US oil company Unocal meeting with the Taliban to set up an oil deal in early 2001 (*eyes emoji*).

[Hunter Burgin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great pieces of journalism from many frontlines, the biggest takeaway to me is how jarring it is reading the last couple articles. These articles were published in 2001 and 2002 and cover conflict in Afghanistan, and just reading them with what we've seen happen in Afghanistan since then really makes them stand out. Overall great writing though.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Junger's The Perfect Storm, I looked forward to reading this subsequent work. Somewhat a disappointment, mainly because there's no continuity. The book is 1990s magazine article reprints, two are forest fire related, the most dramatic being the account of a Glenwood Springs, Colo., fire that took 12 firefighter lives. The other, with less action, being mostly about gear that forest firefights use and firefighting strategies. The best and most engaging reprint to me is the touchy interview with an Afghan strongman and skilled military strategist, Ahmad Shah Massoud, last in the collection. (Had Massoud not been assassinated, the Afghanistan War might have turned out much better for U.S. diplomacy.) Other articles tie to the brutality of Kosovo massacres, the fast and loose international arms trading in diamond mining Sierra Leone and about a Caribbean island whale harpooner, the last of his kind in the world. Junger, an intrepid journalist who in the 1990s often placed himself in peril, is a superb writer. Two later books, War (2010) and Tribe (2016), I'm placing on my “to read” list. Will they be so engaging?

[Mary Ann]

I chose this book because I thought it was about firefighting. Instead, it was a series of articles Junger had written over the years, only one of which was about firefighting. The other chapters were interesting, well written and thought provoking; just not what I had signed up for.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fire is an excellent collection of essays by Sebastian Junger somewhat misleadingly titled.

The first two essays deal with fighting forest fires in the American West. The book then turns to essays, or feature pieces, that report on war in the Balkans and Afghanistan, diamonds in Sierra Leone, the peculiar division of Cyprus between Greeks and Turks, the last harpoon-using whale hunter in the Caribbean, and a few meditations on the difference between bravery (displayed when an action is not strictly necessary) and courage (displayed when an action is absolutely necessary, and dangerous.)

Throughout, Junger's writing is clear, graphic, compelling, and well-informed. There are few happy endings, if any. His overarching journalistic strategy, in fact, is to seek out situations that are terrible and explore what has gone wrong and could keep going wrong. Along the way, he often phrases his observations beautifully, reminding me of Michael Herr's book on Vietnam (Dispatches) and much of Joan Didion's writing.

I wrote recently that literature might simply be the kind of writing that says what otherwise would not be said. In that sense, this book is not just journalistic reporting, it is literature because Junger goes to great and harrowing lengths to beautifully express many things that are true, terrible, and often ignored because they are both true and terrible.

He describes the science and fury of fire magnificently. He examines the depravity of war clinically. He is superb in recounting the stupidity of a divided Cyprus and the avarice of the diamond trade, both licit and illicit.


When Junger writes about war, particularly in Afghanistan, he's superb. He provides the grain and gore of conflict, and he swiftly contextualizes it in cascades of bad policy decisions that turned innocent populations into fresh layers of dust on lands they once owned.

My favorite quote from Chekhov is, "Gentlemen, why do you live your lives so stupidly?" In his own way, Junger asks that question, too.

[Tulara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was at the library looking for the author's newer book, War. It wasn't there, but I did see Fire - an account of fire fighters on the lines fighting forest fires. I always wondered about why these fire people run toward fires while I would run away - and although I've seen coverage of devastating fires, I imagine to see them up close as a wall of flame must be an experience for ultra-human people.

I guess I should have read the small print - the book is a collection of essays - granted the first are about people and fire, but the rest are about conflicts the world over that Junger has covered. I might add, covered in depth - from going into the mountains of Afghanistan to the horrendous slaughter in Kosovo and the civil unrest in Cyprus. Junger puts you there - right in the midst of human destruction, loss of hope and also outstanding heroism. I have no problem in his revelations of what is going on in the world - even at our own expense, such as our supplying the Taliban with military gun power to fight the Russians - who then now are using what they learned against us. Junger's seen more than his share - and although it's not objective journalism - how can it be when the people you are with are defending YOUR life - he gives us an account of what we should know when we dare to offer our young men and women to war - no yellow ribbons can make up for what our children and other people's children suffer in our wars.

[Steve Lowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even after reading the other reviews of this book, even after reading the sort of vague introduction by Sebastian Junger about dangerous jobs, I STILL was caught by surprise when the stories in this book changed from fighting wildfires to the last remaining whale harpooner on the planet.

I loved the wildfire stuff, which was the first 50 or so pages. It's fascinating and I could have read on and on about the science of wildfires, the men and women who fight them, the technology and practices they use, and so on. But this book isn't about FIRE, it's about dangerous jobs. This book is a collection of (don't get me wrong, extremely well-written and interesting) magazine articles that Junger wrote during the 90s.

If the book had been named 'Dangerous Jobs' or 'Pressure' or maybe given a sub-title something along the lines of 'The Collected Articles of Sebastian Junger' then I would have been fine with that. But to call it FIRE, to slap a picture of a wildfire on the cover, the only vaguely suggest that Junger covered lots of dangerous situations in the intro and to tantalize me with the first 50 pages of wildlfire stories then move on from there, well that's either dumb marketing, or it's bait-and-switch.

Either way, I didn't really appreciate that. Even after I knew going in that it was coming.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a selection of articles written by Junger throughout his career as a journalist. The articles are written about a number of places he's been, things he's seen and things he's done. He's a wonderful writer and has done a lot to bring the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to people's attention.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

- Fire jumpers are paid for the FIRE and not for the JUMP as the jump isn't considered hazardous per se, but is the method of delivery. At the time the book was written, fire jumpers made ~$8.50/hr and the jump in could take 60-90 seconds to jump in.

- "Overhead teams" are people from multiple gov agencies from all over the country. A fire camp with an overhead team, can put two people in the field for every one person acting as support, overhead teams are 20x as efficient as the military.

- A rire line is built and measured in sixty-six-foot sections called chains, a unit of measurement that dates back to the early days of surveying. There are 80 chains to a mile, and hotshot crews should be able to cut 20 chains—a quarter of a mile—of fire line an hour. If it’s an emergency, the crew should be able to continue at that pace all day, all night by headlamp, and even all the next day. The unofficial record is sixty-seven hours, set by a California crew boss who had also gone thirty days without a shower. Technically both are in violation of agency policy.

- Fires generally “lay down” after dark because the temperature drops, meaning that the relative humidity rises

- Dying in a fire is often less a process of burning than of asphyxiation. Their suffering was probably intense but short-lived. Pathologists looked for carbon in their lungs and upper airways and found none, which meant the victims weren’t breathing when the fire passed over them. Their lungs were filled with fluid, their throats were closed in laryngeal spasms—responses to superheated air—and their blood contained toxic levels of carbon monoxide. This gas, given off during incomplete combustion, displaces oxygen in the blood and kills very quickly. Junger continues his explanation with the both cursed and blessed factoid that the victims of the specific fire he was discussing most likely died within 20 seconds in a complete state of bewilderment. Blessing b/c it was fast right? But cursed b/c that had to have been horrifying to realize for them.

- In another essay....."per capita, Cyprus is the most militarized country in the world after North and South Korea—with 35,000 Turkish and Turkish Cypriot troops and 14,500 Greek Cypriot troops, monitored by 1,200 UN soldiers—yet it is one of the most peaceful: only 16 people have been killed along the divide since 1974"

- Essay about Kosovo and Serbia was fascinating (Forensics of War)

- Essay about Sierra Leone the executioners "...demanded to know why they weren’t scared. 'I’m a human being, like you,' Kokero said. 'We’re brothers. If you kill me, you lose because you’ve killed a brother. For me, it’s over, I’m gone. You’re the one left with the problem.' - what a boss (and a good point!)

***Overall a 3 out of 5, with the exception that the two essays on fire were 5 out of 5 and the "Forensics of War" essay was 4 out of 5.***

[Hessah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thrilling collection of essays that aimed to convey the horrid nature behind wars in all of forms. Civil wars, sectarian/partisan conflicts, Ethnic cleansing, Blood diamonds, Border attacks, and Nature’s bloody path into consuming lands and lives. When I picked this book, I didn’t realize that all of the essays had been published and I believe almost all of them are available free online. I probably wouldn’t have read them all, but having a different and diverse range of essays is an effective method to cajole readers into reading all of them.
Due to the fact that each chapter is a stand alone essay, it will be an easy read for anyone enjoying reading occasionally. However, being easy , doesn’t translate into a comfortable read. There were occasions where I was thinking of many of those nameless characters, especially casualties who had to endure misery in such conflict events.
My least favorite pieces were the 2 first essays that discussed forest fires. They didn’t connect and I think they might resonate more with individuals who experienced them or in proximity of such natural disasters.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of journalistic essays that are really linked only by being horrifying and dangerous. Most of them are related to war in some way (like Junger's investigations in Kosovo or Sierra Leone, for example) but a small number are entirely different. The title, for instance, refers to the opening essay on fighting forest fires, and there's another piece on whaling. Junger's extremely easy to read - this is the second book of his I've read and he manages to be intelligent and informative without being wordy or judgemental. That being said, you wouldn't catch me wandering around a civil war being shot at for a story. It's a necessary job, I grant you, and fascinating to read about but I reckon there's got to be something that attracts a certain type of person to danger and that person is not me.

Best entry here, I think, was the one co-written with Scott Anderson on the political stalemate going on in Cyprus. Really, really interesting stuff, with a conclusion that does its level best to wrench the potential for hope out of determined misery.

[Gary Street · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sebastian Junger, author of the Perfect Storm, did it again with Fire. Fire is a collection of essays that have appeared in several highly regarded magazines, including Harper's, Men's Journal, National Geographic, Outside and Vanity Fair.

The first two essays (or chapters) are accounts of fighting forest fires in the mountainous terrain of the western states. The following chapters include whale hunting, Kashmir, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, and others involving conflict in various "hot spots" around the world.

The book is a page turner, and made even more so as it is non-fiction. A genre I prefer.

My only reason for not giving it 5 stars (I'd like to give it 4.5 stars) is that it was published in 2001. Some of the technology he describes may be a bit out of date. But don't let this keep you from reading Fire.

[Gregory Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly Sebastian Junger is drawn to danger and on getting as close to it as possible either (a) to bring it up to as personal a level as possible for the reader, (b) to draw out the greatest amount of human drama, or (c) because he’s a lunatic. It’s possible it’s a bit of all three.

After penning A Perfect Storm (1997), he released this series of non fiction accounts of his experience as a fledgling journalist. The first a series of profiles of firefighters, which taught me a good bit about fire and the many dangers inherent in wildlife fire fighting. He then profiles a number of notable stories about whale hunters, Kosovo during the Serbian conflict, and Afghanistan, prior to the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack. Pretty surreal.

Interesting guy. In just about every episode I found my thinking, “nope, not doing that.”

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sebastian Junger is one of the great writers of our time. If quality writing and learning means anything to you, HE is the go to guy. His writing style is outstanding and leaves you feeling as if you were there. A journalistic storyteller.
This is a series of essays. Fire actually had my adrenaline surging through my body and my heart pumping while I was reading. It is amazing and actually should be required reading. We need to know what people go through fighting fires.
The war stories were too hard for me to read, though I did, I confess, I had to skim. It was too painful. He paints a picture and you get to see it. Sadly.

Why hasn't this man won every writing award there is? I'm a huge fan.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This took me a while to get through, mostly because some of the essays really slowed me down. Some I liked better than others. I expected to really enjoy the first two forest-fire related essays but they were some of my least favorite. Ones that stick out were the story about the whale hunters, and the final story in the book. I gave up on one of them just to power through. I think some of the writing was lost on me because I didn't have any knowledge of the events at all or the historical context, and it felt like the pieces were written for the time they were happening in, and assumed you had some vague idea about them.

[Adam Forsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I initially started this story mid fire season and became quite engrossed with the different stories written by Junger. I found myself wanting to escape from the fire line when I was not working so I decided I would put it down until the end of the season. I finally picked this book back up and found that only a couple chapters encompassed fire, which I was totally fine. Junger brought to life many different event from across the world I didn’t even know about. I often found myself going down several wikipedia rabbit holes to find out more information about the different conflicts mentioned within the book. This book was insightful and glad I finally finished after 7 months.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is misleading.
Only the first 2 chapters are about fire (& narrated by the author). The rest is about war (Kosovo, Cypress, & Afghanistan) and whaling.

For that reason, it's hard not to feel bamboozled, & as if he did this to give older works new audience.

The chapters I bought the book for, would have earned 4.5 stars. The random whaling & fur trade chapters, 2 stars, and the war essays 3 stars.

The essays are excellent, as is to be expected by him, but the ordering & seeming randomness is annoying.

[Mickey Bits · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of Junger's work will likely have already read these pieces in various magazines. They are so well written, though, that it is worth going through them a second time. With the benefit of many years having passed in the interim, it's interesting to reflect back on these various conflicts and circumstances.

The profile of Ahmad Shah Massoud, for example, is particularly interesting. It was written before his assassination (obviously) and also 9/11. Now, 20 years into the Afghan war, it's a way of going back in time.

Highly recommended.

[Robert Mckay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Junger has presented here some highly interesting essays. The title is somewhat unfortunate, since the bulk of the book isn't about fire, but that's a minor bobble. From fighting forest fires ("wildfire?" really? is that the opposite of "tamefire?") in the western United States, to the long division of Cyprus, to fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and various other subjects, Junger does a good job. It's good writing, and if it's not intellectually heavy that's all right - sometimes good writing without profundity is just the thing.

[Kelli Reddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult book to read, each chapter was about a different catastrophe. From a fire in glenqood springs, CO to the diamond mines of Sierra Leone, afghans wars against the Soviet then the taliban, the Albanian and Serb civil wars, western hostages that disappeared in India’s mountainous region Kashmir and disputed by Pakistan…these stories are horrific and terrible. And most are from the last decades of the 20th century, a time when I was alive. Hard to wrap my brain around the atrocities occurring when I have lived a life of so much privilege and prosperity and freedom.

[Selena Maranjian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd say 3.75 stars. :) It didn't hold my interest as much as I'd want the whole way through the book, but it was interesting and I learned things, which is good. Junger is also a fine writer and there's a fair amount of humor here and there in the book, too. I expected it to be all about fire and firefighting, but that was only the first few essays. The rest covered other topics, especially wars. I think those with more testosterone might enjoy this more than me, though I'm glad to have read it.

[Tricia Charron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of essays written for various publications. I particularly enjoyed both the cover story about the fire at King Mountain and the story detailing the Lion of Panjshir, Ahmed Shah Massoud. I often wonder what would have happened in Afghanistan if Bin Laden had not had him killed before 9/11 (he was assassinated 2 days previously). Who actually ordered the assassination is still conjecture, but I am of the personal belief that the coincidence cannot be ignored.

[Laura Poppenwimer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of journalism covering different subjects. The only one I found really riveting was the first article about wild fire fighters. I knew they had dangerous jobs, but never realized the extent of the danger. The other articles covered a lot of the mid east and Africa conflicts which are not as much of a personal interest. The articles are well written.