Stephen J. Pyne is a professor in the Biology and Society Program at Arizona State Universty. He is the author of many books, including Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910 and Fire on the Rim: A Firefighter's Season at the Grand Canyon. Fire: A Brief History is the sixth volume in Pyne's Cycle of Fire, which also includes Vestal Fire, World Fire, Burning Bush, The Ice and Fire in America.

• Foreword by William CrononPreface to the 1998 Paperback EditionPreface to the Original Edition: Firestick HistoryMap of AustraliaMap of Australia's VegetationPrologue: Dust to DustBOOK ONE: THE EUCALYPTThe Universal AustralianUnemaginable Freaks of Fire: Profile of a PyrophyteRed Centre: Fire Regimes of Old AustraliaLand of ContrariesBOOK TWO: THE ABORIGINEFlaming FrontFierstick Farmer: Profile of a PyrophileFires of the DreamingSmokes by Day, Fires by Night: Fire Regimes of Aboriginal AustraliaThis Wonderful Depository of FireBOOK THREE: THE EUROPEANEntwining FireReconnaissance by Fire: Education of a PyrophileRed Steer and Green PickBeyond the Black StumpFire ConservancyBurning Off: Fire Provinces of European AustraliaWhen the Billy BoiledBOOK FOUR: THE NEW AUSTRALIANThe Two FiresAntipodean Fire: The Australian StrategyWild Bush, Urban Bush: Fire Regimes in New AustraliaEpilogue: Ashes to AshesNotesBibliographic EssayIndex

"This is a phenomenal piece of research and writing, an epic that moves from prehistoric geology to contemporary firefighting theory and draws on an array of natural and social sciences to do so. This is geographical writing at its best and most exhaustive and will intrigue anyone interested in Australia, the environment or human civilization."(San Francisco Chronicle) "Mr. Pyne, showing what a historian deeply schooled in environmental science can contribute to our awareness of nature and culture, has produced a provocative work that is a major contribution to the literature of environmental studies."(New York Times Book Review) "Stephen Pyne is a great storyteller, and here he weaves as fine a tale as one could imagine about a phenomenon as seemingly ordinary as fire."(Natural History)