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-t...

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 in...

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 firs...

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...

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.

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.

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.

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...

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...

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 conte...

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 "ju...

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 wit...

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 ch...

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 m...

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...

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.

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 stric...

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 t...

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.

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