Overview

A climate defined by wet and dry seasons, a mostly mountainous terrain, a biota prone to disturbances, a human geography characterized by a diversity of peoples all of whom rely on burning in one form or another: Mexico has ideal circumstances for fire, and those fires provide a unique perspective on its complex history. Narrating Mexico's evolution of fire through five eras, historian Stephen J. Pyne describes the pre-human, pre-Hispanic, colonial, industrializing (1880-1980), and contemporary (1980-2015) fire biography of this diverse and dynamic country. Creatively deploying the Aztec New Fire Ceremony and the ""five suns"" that it birthed, Pyne addresses the question, ""Why does fire appear in Mexico the way it does?"" Five Suns tells the saga through a pyric prism. Mexico has become one of the top ten ""firepowers"" in the world today through its fire suppression capabilities, fire research, and industrial combustion, but also by those continuing customary practices that have become increasingly significant to a world that suffers too much combustion and too little fire. Five Suns completes a North American fire-history trilogy written by Pyne over the past forty years, complementing his histories of Canada and the United States.

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Stephen J. Pyne is a fire historian, urban farmer, and emeritus professor at Arizona State University. He is the author of more than forty books, including Pyrocene Park: A Journey Through the Fire History of Yosemite. Emmanuel Chumaceiro is a first generation Cuban-American and classically trained opera singer who has lent his rich baritone voice to stage productions throughout the Tri-state area, in addition to audiobooks and voice-over projects. He appeared in the US premiere of New Guidelines for Peaceful Times at the historic Cherry Lane Theatre, and the world opera premieres of Ulysses at Symphony Space and Gulliver's Travels at American Opera Project.

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