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About
Three years after Roger Kennedy retired as director of the National Park Service, from his Santa Fe home he watched as the Cerro Grande Fire moved across the Pajarito Plateau and into Los Alamos. Two hundred and thirty-five homes were destroyed, more than 45,000 acres of forest were burned, and the nation's nuclear laboratories were threatened; even before the embers had died a blame game erupted. Kennedy's career as a public servant, which encompasses appointments under five presidential administrations, convinced him that the tragedy would produce scapegoats and misinformation, and leave American lives at risk. That was unacceptable, even unforgivable.
Wildfire and Americans is a passionate, deeply informed appeal that we acknowledge wildfire not as a fire problem but as a people problem. Americans are in the wrong places, damningly because they were encouraged to settle there. Politicians, scientists, and CEOs acting out of patriotism, hubris, and greed have placed their fellow countrymen in harm's way. And now, with global warming, we inhabit a landscape that has become much more dangerous. Grounded in the conviction that we owe a duty to our environment and our fellow man, Wildfire and Americans is more than a depiction of policies gone terribly awry. It is a plea to acknowledge the mercy we owe nature and mankind.
Wildfire and Americans is a passionate, deeply informed appeal that we acknowledge wildfire not as a fire problem but as a people problem. Americans are in the wrong places, damningly because they were encouraged to settle there. Politicians, scientists, and CEOs acting out of patriotism, hubris, and greed have placed their fellow countrymen in harm's way. And now, with global warming, we inhabit a landscape that has become much more dangerous. Grounded in the conviction that we owe a duty to our environment and our fellow man, Wildfire and Americans is more than a depiction of policies gone terribly awry. It is a plea to acknowledge the mercy we owe nature and mankind.
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Reviews
"Eloquent and incisive, old-government-hand Kennedy shows how a set of wrong policies can do increasing harm for decades, yet become entrenched despite gross failure. The book is a masterpiece of details, not only of the specifics of fire and land-use misplanning, but of the whole historic narrative that got us into the fix. That perspective enables him to show a way out."
Stewart Brand, President, The Long Now Foundation
"Roger Kennedy has written a valuable book that all taxpayers in the country should read. Long standing policies designed with the best intentions encouraged many Americans to build houses in unsafe places. When threatened by fire and flood the taxpayer is often called upon to bail them out. Kennedy rightfully calls for a rational approach to our policies supporting home construction to ensure tha
Theodore Roosevelt IV
"Equal parts detective story, Cold War mystery, environmental history lesson, and policy treatise, Roger Kennedy's Wildfire and Americans offers an unsurpassed investigation into the root causes of runaway wildfires."
Don Chen, Executive Director, Smart Growth America