Ignition

“O’Connor is an intrepid reporter whose journalism has taken her to Sri Lanka, Haiti, and Afghanistan…In Ignition, she’s likewise disinclined to her desk. Over the course of a year, O’Connor pursues her “pyrowanderlust” to prescribed burns around the country and meets a growing “fire counterculture”—environmentalists, scientists, Native practitioners—seeking to restore fire to its rightful place." —The Atlantic

“An intricate examination of the relationship humans once shared with fire in the past and what it can become in the future.”—Kirkus, starred review

“A book as startling as a struck match. Gutsy, clear-eyed, and surprisingly touching, Ignition reads like an adventure story while exploring both cutting-edge scientific thought and long-ignored Indigenous wisdom around wildland fires. A feat of old school, boots-on-the-ground journalism fueled by an intellectual curiosity as omnivorous as its subject matter, Ignition is a book that offers difficult answers to complicated questions about how we are to confront and adapt to a world on fire.”—Michael Patrick F. Smith, author of The Good Hand

“In her powerful reckoning with a world on fire, M.R. O'Connor transcends the bounds of journalism to arrive at a metaphysical, historical, and personal understanding of land management. She walks the walk when she becomes a wildlife firefighter and ignitor of controlled burns to help heal ailing landscapes. Just as fire has changed her, this book changed me.”—Emily Raboteau, author of Searching for Zion

“O'Connor is one of our most brilliant science writers, and this is her most ambitious book yet. In elegant yet surprising prose, she takes fire—a topic as old as the earth and as vast as the cosmos—and swallows it whole. She talks with Indigenous elders, ponders pyromaniacs, and walks across flaming landscapes until the skin peels from her feet. In the process, she manages to find a credible, hopeful path forward through our conflagrant future.”—Robert Moor, bestselling author of On Trails: An Exploration

"Filled with tantalizing natural history and immersive reporting, this nuanced take on fire’s danger and environmental necessity enlightens."—Publishers Weekly