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Fire audiobook

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Fire Audiobook Summary

For readers and viewers of The Perfect Storm, opening this long-awaited new work by Sebastian Junger will be like stepping off the deck of the Andrea Gail and into the inferno of a fire burning out of control in the steep canyons of Idaho. Here is the same meticulous prose brought to bear on the inner workings of a terrifying elemental force; here is a cast of characters risking everything in an effort 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 new collection of Junger’s nonfiction will take you places you wouldn’t dream of going to on your own.

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Fire Audiobook Narrator

Sebastian Junger is the narrator of Fire audiobook that was written by Sebastian Junger

About the Author(s) of Fire

Sebastian Junger is the author of Fire

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Fire Full Details

Narrator Sebastian Junger
Length 3 hours 17 minutes
Author Sebastian Junger
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date October 11, 2005
ISBN 9780060886622

Subjects

The publisher of the Fire is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Essays & Travelogues, Travel

Additional info

The publisher of the Fire is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780060886622.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Chris

August 07, 2022

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*.

Margaret

May 29, 2009

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.

Michael

September 21, 2022

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.

Hunter

October 16, 2021

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.

Kevin

September 08, 2021

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*).

John

February 19, 2021

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?

Robert

September 14, 2015

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.

Hessah

March 04, 2022

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

December 14, 2017

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.

Gregory

September 27, 2021

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

January 13, 2023

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.

Chad

April 26, 2022

Welcome to hell, you must look directly at this. From stories of people practically conscripted into fighting massive fires for meager wages, to the human rights atrocities, the legal origins of war crimes trials, to the nightmares of war the author makes us look at things that many of us never have to look at. This is not only to our detriment, but to the detriment of the entire world, there’s even an essay related to that, the absence of danger for some, and who, really, are the heroes. The chapter on Afghanistan, published in early 2001 is particularly striking in the light of what would happen later that year, and for the next 20. A stunningly important collection of essays.

Robert

March 06, 2022

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.

Mickey

May 11, 2021

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.

Tricia Charron

May 12, 2021

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.

Cynthia

January 22, 2021

This is the second book I've read by Sebastian Junger, and it won't be my last. His writing style brought me right into the center of the action, making the pages fly by. The descriptions in the book are vivid, and his words have a depth that is thought-provoking. It's a book well worth reading.Thanks for the enjoyable read!

Katherine

December 01, 2019

A collection of Junger's essays and articles from 1992 to 2001. I most enjoyed the first two, which were about wildfires, but all of them were interesting and well-written and an odd series of postcards from the 1990s. Reading the last one was very discomfiting, because it was about Afghanistan and the Taliban and written before 9/11.

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