Welcome to Litsy!

A hotshot firefighter�s gripping firsthand account of a record-setting fire season Eighteen of California�s largest wildfires on record have burned in the past two decades. Scientists recently invented the term �megafire� to describe wildfires that behave in ways that would have been nearly impossible just a generation ago, burning through winter, exploding in the night, and devastating landscapes historically impervious to incendiary destruction. In When It All Burns, wildland firefighter and anthropologist Jordan Thomas recounts a single, brutal six-month fire season with the Los Padres Hotshots�the special forces of America�s firefighters. Being a hotshot is among the most difficult jobs on earth. Thomas viscerally renders his crew�s attempts to battle flames that are often too destructive to contain. He uncovers the hidden cultural history of megafires, revealing how humanity�s symbiotic relationship with wildfire became a war�and what can be done to change it back. Thomas weaves ecology and the history of Indigenous peoples' oppression, federal forestry, and the growth of the fire industrial complex into a riveting narrative about a new phase in the climate crisis. It's an immersive story of community in the most perilous of circumstances, told with humor, humility, and affection.