Vestal Fire : An Environmental History, Told Through Fire, of Europe and Europe's Encounter with the World

by Pyne, Stephen J.

• ISBN13: 9780295975962
• ISBN10: 0295975962
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr

Summary

Pyne takes readers on a journey through time, exploring the terrain of Europe and the uses and abuses of its lands as well as, through migration and conquest, the many parts of the rest of the world, to show how, between the untamed fire of the wilderness and the tended fire of the hearth, there lies a neverending dialectic in which human beings struggle to control natural forces. 65 illustrations, maps & notes.

Author Biography

Stephen J. Pyne is a professor in the Biology and Society Program at Arizona State University

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
William Cronon
Author's Note	xv
Prologue: Quest For Fire	3	(6)
Book 1: ELEMENTS
Flame	9	(16)
Diamond in the Rough: A Physical Geography of European Fire	10	(6)
New Worlds from Old: A Biogeography of European Fire	16	(4)
Fusain and Flame: A Natural History of European Fire	20	(5)
Torch	25	(24)
Errant Fire: The Hominid Colonization of Europe	27	(5)
Cultivated Fire: The Agricultural Reclamation of Europe	32	(9)
Pyrotechnia: The Technology of Combustion	41	(8)
Hearth	49	(30)
Domiciled Fire: Hearth and House	50	(9)
The Fire in the Cave: Combustion and Cognition	59	(9)
Need-Fire, Vestal Fire: Ceremony and Ritual	68	(11)
Book 2: EUROPE	79	(318)
Eternal Flame: Fire In Mediterranean Europe	81	(66)
Prologue: West of Eden	81	(2)
Behold, Before a Garden, Behind a Waste	83	(12)
Arcadia and Anarchy: Mediterranean Pastorale	95	(11)
Grand Traverse: Imperial France	106	(21)
Mediterranean Miniature: Cyprus	127	(16)
Epilogue: Fin-de-Siecle Fire	143	(4)
Controlled Combustion: Fire In Central Europe	147	(63)
Prologue: Ashes and Embers	147	(1)
Landnam: The Fire of First Contact	148	(9)
Reclamation: The Fire in the Garden	157	(9)
Revolution: The Enlightenment Comes to Agriculture	166	(18)
Revolution Redux: Forestry Takes Command	184	(19)
Epilogue: Holocaust	203	(7)
Wild Hearth: Fire In Boreal Europe	210	(64)
Prologue: Fire and Water	210	(4)
Fire and Sword: The Historia of Olaus Magnus	214	(14)
Fire and Ax: The Finnish Colonization	228	(11)
Fire and Field: The Travels of Linnaeus	239	(15)
Fire and Iron: The Adventures of Nils	254	(15)
Epilogue: Final Flame	269	(5)
Flaming Front: Fire In Eurasian Europe	274	(69)
Prologue: Wooden Rus' Is like a Fire	274	(6)
The Candle and the Torch	280	(16)
Lines of Fire, Fields of Fire	296	(16)
Emancipation and Suppression	312	(16)
When the Sky Burned	328	(11)
Epilogue: Fire in the Minds of Men	339	(4)
Spot Fires: Fire In Atlantic Europe	343	(54)
Prologue: Sparks in the Wind	343	(3)
It Was All a Planted Garden: The British Isles	346	(23)
Green Fire: The Celtic Isle	369	(6)
Northern Mists, Northern Smoke: The Norse Islands	375	(7)
Blessed Isles, Burned Isles: The Iberian Islands	382	(9)
Epilogue: The World Encompassed	391	(6)
Book 3: EARTH	397	(147)
Islands	399	(64)
New Fire: The Coming of Anthropogenic Fire	400	(11)
Strange Fire: The Coming of European Fire	411	(31)
Sacred Fire: The Coming of Conservation	442	(21)
Continents	463	(69)
Carrying the Fire: Europe Expands	465	(15)
Counter Fire: Europe Contains	480	(20)
Fire in the Ashes: Europe Rekindles	500	(32)
Planets	532	(12)
Conduction: The European Connection	532	(4)
Radiation: The Neo-Europes	536	(3)
Convection: Black Death, Heat Death	539	(5)
Epilogue: Beyond The Realm Of Fire	544	(5)
Notes	549	(34)
Glossary	583	(4)
Bibliography	587	(48)
Index	635