Rating: 
Summary: Expecting Sugar in my Coffee and It was Salt!
Review: Having been raised in the Pacific Northwest and being around forest fires and fighters for many years, I very much looked forward to reading this book. And initially Junger delivers. But then about half way into the book we find that the author's research and writing about the fighters was done before "Perfect Storm" and there wasn't enough to fill a full book. So what we find is a transition to writing about being a reporter/correspondent in war. In his publisher's mind both are stories about working in dangerous surroundings. But that's not what the reader expects when he picks up the book. And even then Junger comes up a little short so he uses short stories from a friend and fellow writer from some of their trips to war torn parts of the world to patch together enough to make a book. My disappointment comes from expecting to have an entire book about the dangers and events of firefighting. I have hundreds of photos taken by a good friend during huge fires in Southern Oregon and Northern California a couple of years ago and know that what Junger did cover was accurately presented. There are few books about the men and women who work hard and face danger daily during the fire season. Unfortunately, this book only partially documents their challenges.
Rating: 
Summary: Naive
Review: Having read Perfect Storm, I at least thought this book would be entertaining. Unfortunately, it is neither "pleasure reading" nor academic/objective. The author takes us on his journeys, financed no doubt from the money he made from Perfect Storm. His analysis is superficial, and one wonders if Junger ever has a solution to any of the world's problems. In this book, all he does is recount and reherse what we already now and have read elsewhere. I agree with other reviewers that you won't find writing like this in the press. It could however be a collection of essays written for National Review or Commentary. Interesting but not altogether satisfying. Spend your money on more serious books.
Rating: 
Summary: Sweepings off the floor
Review: I bought this book, hoping to find a "Perfect Storm" about smoke jumpers. What I found instead was a collection of feature articles with a tenuous connection to each other at best and of limited interest. The single exception to this is the last article, which is interesting in that it is about Afghanistan and the Taliban. Beyond that, you could pitch the whole book and not feel like you insulted it beyond what it deserved. Junger's publishing company was obviously trying to squeeze some more money out of Junger's name before he disappeared from view.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Perfect Storm
Review: I confess that I went into this book a tad cynical. I felt that anyone writing about smoke jumpers has to contend with Norman Maclean's unforgettable YOUNG MEN AND FIRE, but I had enjoyed-if that is the right word- PERFECT STORM so much that I assumed that if anyone could match Maclean's mixture of technical detail, energy, and lyricism it would be Junger. Well, he can't, or if he can he hasn't here. One gathers that just about everything in this collection was written for various magazines, and it is perhaps a pity that Junger didn't heavily edit the essays, revise them, focus on one or two topics and really make a book. Not that these pieces are particularly bad, I read 'em, but I doubt if I will remember them much past next month.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfectly Topical
Review: I happened across Sebastian Junger's latest while wildfires are raging near Sydney, India and Pakistan are heating up the Kashmir conflict, and the conflict in Afghanistan is still swirling toward an uncertain conclusion. Junger's second book manages to touch on all these current headlines, making you want to find out what he's working on *now*, just to be forewarned."Fire" is a collection of short essays, most published over the last ten years as magazine articles. That's an easy slam-dunk after a big hit like "The Perfect Storm". "Fire" is not Junger's next big thing, but it's certainly worthwhile if you were unaware of his other writings. My favorite in this collection is "Colter's Way", inspired by an Old West figure famous for pushing his luck in Blackfeet territory. Junger relates Colter's exploits to the current fascination with extreme sports and adventure travel. Basically, modern life is safe but dull, so people turn dangerous pastimes to feel more alive, Junger says. Junger promptly lets the air out of the modern adventure's tires: "because it's not necessary, it's not heroic", he says, however "brave" it can be. As in "The Perfect Storm", Junger's levelheaded approach to danger is a nice contract to Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" and its ilk, which seem to emphasize the pathlogical aspects of life at the extreme. "Storms happen" would be Junger's motto, versus Krakauer's annoying "why am I up on Everest" hand-wringing. The last piece in the book, "The Lion in Winter" is an account of Junger's interview with the late anti-Taliban leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud. As he arrives at Massoud's position, Junger and his colleagues manage to attract a rocket attack from the Taliban. "There was nothing exciting about it, nothing even abstractly interesting. It was purely, exclusively bad", Junger writes, letting the air out of his own tires, among many others. Sensibly and honestly, Junger says his strongest desire is simply to leave during the rocket attack. Fortunately, leaving was not practical during the attack, and he goes on to provide a nice portrait of Massoud as an energetic, hands-on military leader. If I were to bet on Junger's next big book, I'd pick Afghanistan as the topic. In the mean time, "Fire" is a pretty impressive collection for a tree trimmer turned writer.
Rating:
Summary: Been There, Read That
Review: I have been a Sebastian Junger fan for some time. His candid observations are clear and his writing clips along without grandstanding and the back-slapping he probably deserves. Fire, however, is a book I've read before. In fact, only one of the chapters in the book was new to me. Everything else was ripped from his magazine articles. I would like to have seen more on firefighting, and the other "dangerous jobs" he claims to have explored for an early book.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I like the subjects of Sebastian Junger's articles. Moreso, his writing style, which is informative yet not dry; truthful yet it reads like a novel. I think the title Fire sums up all his articles. From forest fires to conflagrations from the different flashpoints of the world to the passions burning inside people doing their dangerous jobs. Looking forward to his next collection of articles (His Vanity Fair article about the Kosovo Sex Trade is a must-read).
Rating:
Summary: Trash!
Review: I thought I purchased a book about fighting forest fires, you can fool me hopefully only once, see you later Junger you'll never see another penny of my money.
Rating:
Summary: Not Worth the Time
Review: I was surprised to see how long it took for Junger and his publishers to capitalize on his Perfect Storm fame. Now I see why. The fact is, he has nothing to publish. In Fire, Junger manages to make fighting forest fires and whale hunting boring. It is clear Junger owed the publisher a book and reached into his file cabinet and recycled old material.
Rating:
Summary: Read it backwards
Review: It's tough to criticize Sebastian Junger given the fact that - as the cover blurb points out - he "risks his life to research compelling tales of danger." But the cover of this book and the campaign behind its release really softsells the reality that - with the exception of a brief 'Afterword' discussing the implications of 9/11 - 'Fire' is simply a series of cobbled together, re-released magazine articles. If you're a frequent reader of Vanity Fair or Men's Journal, a lot of this will look familar to you. Furthermore, the book is arranged in chronological order. From an editing perspective, that makes sense. But it sells the author short. Clearly, his style has evolved and matured throughout the years. Without a doubt, the strongest pieces are at the very end - specifically, his two excellent essays about Afghanistan's "Lion of the Panjshir" Ahmad Shah Massoud. Putting "Perfect Storm" aside, these pieces are Junger's defining work and the most compelling reasons to buy and read 'Fire.' So my advice is to read the book backwards. Go straight to "Lion in Winter" (2001) and "Massoud's Last Conquest" (2002). Then, cherry-pick working backwards, remmebering that the better writing comes later. In fact, Junger has been done a great disservice by his editors here by naming the book 'Fire' and leading with two extensive essays about forest fires in the American West. This masks the fact the the best essays in the book involve Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Kosovo.
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