dying light thrill of the chase six feet under

I piled a few more logs on the stack and said yes. In his soft-spoken way, he asked if I wanted to fight wildfire that summer.

Owen, a middle-aged man from my father’s church who usually spoke with a smile beneath his orange mustache, was then head supervisor of the U.S. On a mild December day, as I was splitting and stacking a cord of freshly cut pine, Owen Mills drove his rusted Chevy across the lawn and lent a hand. In the winter of 1998 I’d come home from my first semester at college to my parents’ ranch-style house, nested in the country between the Navajo reservation and a small Arizona town. I began fighting fire because someone asked me to. The introduction to On the Fireline Living and Dying with Wildland Firefighters Matthew Desmond The richness of the data he uncovers and his arresting style of presentation make this a distinctive and evocative work.”-Paul Willis, author of Learning to Labor

By exploring how joining a firecrew matches, confirms, and extends the values of the rural culture within which the recruits grew up, Desmond offers a unique perspective on the social and psychological motivations for firefighting. Forest Service tackling wildland fires, as well as a detailed chronicle of the training, preparation, and bonhomie of depot life. “ On the Fireline is a riveting account of firemen of the U.S. If you want a look behind the flames to see what drives these people to come back year after blistering year then read this book.”-John N. His four years on a backcountry Forest Service crew provide authentic material-sometimes startlingly so-for his observations. “Rich in gritty detail, Matthew Desmond’s sociological study of a firecrew is a welcome addition to the literature of wildfire.

Dying light thrill of the chase six feet under