Five Suns

Reviews / Votes

"This is a remarkable book. In a rain of imagery and at times charged, poetic prose and with staggering fire erudition, Pyne expertly uncovers many lost details of Mexican fire history, fire management, and forest management history. With a cavalcade of fire metaphors and similes, he integrates the normally neglected component of fire into Mexican history. However, it is not only a history of Mexican fire, but a significant new contribution to Mexican forest history. A particularly important contribution is revealing the little-recognized achievements of previously obscure Mexican bureaucrats, who led Mexico in becoming a global thought leader in integrated fire management and one of the top ten firepowers in the world."-David Bray, author of Mexico's Community Forest Enterprises

"Five Suns is a lively biography of fire in Mexico, from its ceremonial uses in the pre-Hispanic era to its ecological role in the present. It is the only comprehensive fire history of Mexico, written by a scholar uniquely capable of telling it. It will interest anyone who wishes to learn how fire has transformed-and been transformed by-Mexico's society and environment."-Christopher R. Boyer, author of Political Landscapes: Forests, Conservation, and Community in Mexico