Wildfires present an ever-looming threat in the United States. With the effects of climate change becoming more pronounced, wildfires have become more frequent and more dangerous. Yet this development is not merely a result of impersonal environmental factors. There is a long history that stretches back over 300 years that led us to this moment of reckoning. That history is full of fierce personalities, of hubris and greed, and of good intentions gone awry.

This audiobook explores the origins of the wildfire crisis in the United States. The story begins with America’s pre-colonial past, where Native Americans tended to the forests by igniting controlled wildfires with the intention of creating sustainable and flourishing ecosystems. The arrival of European settlers in the 16th and 17th centuries precipitated a dramatic change in this well-conceived fire regime. Out of fear for fire’s potentially destructive effects, colonists practiced a policy of fire suppression. At the turn of the 20th century, fire suppression took on a greater significance with the founding of the US Forest Service.

While well-intentioned, these policies had damaging effects on forest ecosystems and are a large part of the reason why the wildfire crisis we are experiencing today is so severe. A close look at the mistakes of the past will enable us to hopefully avoid making them in the future. In order to face the threat that wildfires pose, therefore, we must look not only at the science, but within ourselves as well.