Gary Ferguson takes on one of the most pressing issues facing the American West—wildfire—in his new book Land on fire. This concise, beautifully illustrated text takes a broad view of the growing challenges facing fire-prone ecosystems and the human communities in and around them. What the book lacks in depth and detail is somewhat offset by the breadth of topics cov- ered. Ferguson takes the reader on a wide-ranging tour of the human, bureaucratic, ecological, physical, and political aspects of wildfire and wildfire management, including temporal trends and their drivers. Land on fire will be useful primarily for non-specia- lists. It is not a reference text for daily use by grad uate students, researchers, or natural resource m anagers. The target audience might include people interested in natural resource and environmental issues, new Westerners not yet acclimated to the realities of living in fire-prone ecosystems, or political st affers or advo- cates needing a crash course on wildfire. The book lacks the technical detail to be used in undergraduate fire ecology or forest management courses. But, it would be a fantastic text to anchor an undergraduate seminar on western wildfires—an example of an urgent and intractable policy problem that cuts across many disciplines.