Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia
This history by a noted environmental historian and author of The Ice ( LJ 11/15/86) acknowledges the importance of fire to Australia both biologically and culturally. It interprets major fires, the use of fire by the aborigines and European settlers, changing attitudes toward fire control and prevention, and conflict over government policies like the "Australian strategy" of aerial ignition. While the book is arranged chronologically into four major parts, the narrative within sections is topical and episodic. The material is thought-provoking but the treatment is a bit prolix. The work most similar to this book is Pyne's Fire in America ( LJ 9/15/82), which also aims to integrate fire history into the nation's general history.- Janice Dunham, John Jay Coll. Lib., CUNYCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.