Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy

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About Fire In Paradise: An American Tragedy

Product Description The harrowing story of the most destructive American wildfire in a century. On November 8, 2018, the ferocious Camp Fire razed nearly every home in Paradise, California, and killed at least 85 people. Journalists Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano reported on Paradise from the day the fire began and conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews with residents, firefighters and police, and scientific experts. Fire in Paradise is their dramatic narrative of the disaster and an unforgettable story of an American town at the forefront of the climate emergency. Amazon.com Review Paradise, California, is aptly named. Nestled in the gorgeous Sierra Nevada mountains, its residents prized the nature that surrounded them. While Paradise had been threatened by fire before and had an evacuation plan complete with robocalls, the inferno of November 8, 2018—known as the Camp Fire—was unlike anything the town had seen before. The fire surged through chimney-like canyons and leapfrogged over rivers and firebreaks, bearing down on residents just waking. Pulling on eyewitness accounts from firefighters, fleeing citizens, police, and medical personnel, Fire in Paradise does not sensationalize. It doesn’t have to. The first sighting of the fire, the chaotic emptying of the town, a boy swimming across a lake to safety with a cat in a cage on his shoulder, a woman giving birth in the middle of a hospital’s evacuation…all these moments, and more, are extraordinary enough. The humanity and bravery exposed in the middle of unexpected catastrophe shine in this narration, even as tragedy destroys families and 85 people perish in the deadliest wildfire in California history. As wildfire season looms again, Fire in Paradise sounds a warning call we’d do well to heed. — Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review Review "A crisp, intimate portrait of the catastrophe." ― Gregory Crouch, Wall Street Journal "This is a frightening book that will make readers take stock of their own home surroundings, regional infrastructure, and the values of our times." ― Annie Proulx "Gripping.… Fire in Paradise has the narrative propulsion and granular detail of the best breaking-news disaster journalism." ― Rachel Monroe, New York Times Book Review "A story that is both sweeping in scope and vivid in its particulars." ― Carolyn Kellogg, Washington Post "This remarkable account will remind you of the power of the human spirit, even, or especially, in a crisis." ― Bill McKibben "A gripping ticktock account.… [ Fire in Paradise] covers the history of that part of California and the influence of climate change on these disasters, but at its core are visceral individual stories of bravery and tragedy." ― John Williams, New York Times "A page-turner from the get-go.… The details of [the locals’] lives lend verisimilitude sure to hook the most callous of observers." ― Judith M. Gallman, Oakland Magazine "Gripping.… The scale of the disaster is enormous, but the authors’ focus on individual survival lends the book harrowing intimacy." ― Hank Stephenson, Shelf Awareness "So riveting and evocative that you can almost smell the smoke. Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano’s account of how a city of 27,000 burned to the ground in a matter of hours reads like a thriller. It’s also crucial. As the world warms, cities across the arid West are increasingly at risk of suffering a fate similar to Paradise." ― Dan Egan, author of The Death and Life of the Great Lakes "A gripping and meticulously reported account of how one California community was wiped from the map." ― Adam Higginbotham, author of Midnight in Chernobyl About the Author Dani Anguiano writes for the Guardian and was a reporter for the Chico Enterprise-Record. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Alastair Gee is an award-winning editor and reporter at the Guardian who has also written for The New Yorker online, the  New York Times, and the Economist.