Foreword by William Cronon -- Preface to the 1998 paperback edition -- Preface to the original edition: Firestick history -- Map of Australia -- Map of Australia's vegetation -- Prologue: Dust to dust -- Book I. The Eucalypt -- 1. The universal Australian -- 2. Unimaginable freaks of fire: Profile of a pyrophyte -- 3. Red centre: Fire regimes of old Australia -- 4. Land of contrarities -- Book II. The Aborigine -- 5. Flaming front -- 6. Firestick farmer: Profile of a pyrophile -- 7. Fires of the dreaming -- 8. Smokes by day, fires by night: Fire regimes of Aboriginal Australia -- 9. This wonderful depository of fire -- Book III. The European -- 10. Entwining fire -- 11. Reconnaissance by fire: Education of a pyrophile -- 12. Red steers and green pick -- 13. Beyond the black stump -- 14. Fire conservancy -- 15. Burning off: Fire provinces of European Australia -- 16. When the Billy boiled -- Book IV. The new Australian -- 17. The two fires -- 18. Antipodean fire: The Australian strategy -- 19. Wild bush, urban bush: Fire regimes of new Australia -- 20. Dieback -- Epilogue: Ashes to ashes
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 493-497) and index
Notes
Originally published: New York : Henry Holt, 1991. Foreword and preface to this ed. copyright 1998 by the University of Washington Press