The Wild, Wildfire West

In one of the worst fire seasons in the recorded history of the Western United States, more than 2.3 billion acres have already burned. The season's latest menace, the "Chediski-Rodeo" blaze in Arizona, has scorched more than 409,000 acres as of Wednesday, June 26, and has destroyed at least 390 homes. Meanwhile, the fires in Colorado -- which now appear to be dying down -- have consumed 137,000 acres and 133 homes.

In the wake of the severe drought that's plagued the region this year, some experts predict that the destruction will continue, and expect too little relief to come from the monsoon season which usually arrives in the first week of July in New Mexico and Arizona. While the season will bring much-needed rainfall, fire-starting lightning storms are sure to be in store, also.

For the time being, firefighters are desperately trying to contain the Arizona fire, and hold it at bay from the historic town of Show Low, through the use of both burnouts and containment lines among other tools. Burnouts, or backfires, are actually small fires that are intentionally set by firefighters to burn the fuel in a fire's path (in hopes of stopping the fire's momentum), while containment lines attempt to accomplish the same goal by bulldozing up huge swaths of earth. In total, the fight is costing an estimated $1 million per day.

Lucky for us, however, the world of these blazing infernos can be experienced without even breaking a sweat and at a far cheaper price … through the following books, of course.

Young Men and Fire
by Norman Maclean
It's hard to imagine, but for some, parachuting out of planes into roaring hellholes is simply all in a day's work. These brave souls are the U.S. Forest Service Smokejumpers, and on August 5, 1949, 13 of them died in a legendary blaze, the Mann Gulch Fire above Seely Lake, Montana. In Young Men and Fire, Norman Maclean -- the author of A River Runs Through It -- tells their story in an unflinching account of a plan gone horribly wrong. The book, however, is much more than a mere disaster tale: It also includes Maclean's own attempts -- along with two survivors -- to piece together the events of that fateful day. Along the way, he delves deep into the science of fires and the techniques of fighting them, and also reflects upon the nature of death and heroism with characteristic subtlety and grace. Thankfully, the author seems to have passed on his wisdom and talent to his son, John N. Maclean, whose own Fire On The Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire continues the tradition of gripping wildfire narratives.

The Fourth Angel
by Suzanne Chazin
In firefighter-speak, an HTA (or "High Temperature Accelerant") fire is serious business. The temperatures of such blazes can often reach 3000 degrees Fahrenheit, a heat that can scorch even the most high-tech safety equipment. Chazin's harrowing thriller pits New York City fire marshal -- and single mom -- Georgia Skeehan up against such perilous infernos as she attempts to bring a mad arsonist to justice. Unfortunately, the FDNY boys'-club code of silence is covering up facts that point to the arsonist being a firefighter himself. Further plot pyrotechnics abound in this potboiler, and Chazin -- whose husband is a high-ranking member of the FDNY -- inserts enough telling details to show that she truly knows her stuff both in and out of the firehouse. A thrilling debut that looks to be the start of a terrific series.

• Check out more recommended mysteries on the Summer Mystery Top Ten Picks!

The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy
by Stewart O' Nan
July 6, 1944, the day the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus' big top caught on fire, has lived in infamy as the biggest disaster in Connecticut's history. In the end, 167 people -- out of the capacity crowd of 10,000 -- died in the blaze that sparked a national scandal and marked the end of an era. Afterward, "The Greatest Show on Earth" was forced to abandon its famed tents in favor of the safer, albeit less charming, confines of sports arenas. Sifting through all the hearsay and legends surrounding the event, O'Nan gives us a nerve-wracking account of the bizarre tragedy. Gruesome details are aplenty, of course, but so are tales of heroism and bits of circus lore. The book offers a look at some famous personalities like the clown Emmet Kelly and the Flying Wallendas, as well as the story of the fire's aftermath -- which was marked by a rash of finger-pointing, a legal nightmare that lasted 25 years, a hapless hunt for an arsonist, and a flood of scandal-mongering journalism. A wide-ranging juggling act, The Circus Fire works brilliantly as both a work of journalism and literature.

• Read an essay by Stewart O'Nan!

Fire
By Sebastian Junger
While Junger's latest work, a collection of 10 essays and the follow-up to his blockbuster The Perfect Storm, has been touted for its pre-September 11 coverage of guerilla warfare in Afghanistan, the author's from-the-Northern-Alliance-trenches dispatch is only one of the many awe-inspiring pieces of reportage in this volume. For starters, the title essay -- which follows firefighters battling a 1994 Colorado blaze -- is an agonizing tale that's sure to shed light on the current conflagrations seizing the western United States. In the rest of the pieces, Junger takes his appetite for thrill-seeking to other treacherous corners of the globe, investigating the diamond trade scene of Sierra Leone, war crimes in Kosovo, a hostage crisis in Kashmir, and even the ways of the last of the living whale-hunters in the Caribbean. A perfect pick for those of us who love to go looking for danger from the comfort of our own armchairs.

Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground
by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind
Proof positive that are at least a few metalheads out there that have a little too much sympathy for the devil, Lords of Chaos chronicles the rise of the Norwegian-centered black metal movement, whose legions favor punishing jackhammer riffs, have a penchant for the occult (in some cases, even National Socialism)…and have been implicated in a string of medieval church-burnings. Arson, however, is far from the only crime mentioned this study of one the most bizarre music scenes ever. Certainly not for the faint of heart, Lords of Chaos is full of hundreds of rare photos, as well as shocking interviews with black-metal heavyweights, many of whom feel no remorse for their wrongdoings. Beavis and Butthead have got nothing on these not-so-merry pranksters.