{"product_id":"vestal-fire-an-environmental-history-told-through-fire-of-europe-and-europes-encounter-with-the-world-weyerhaeuser-environmental-books","title":"Vestal Fire: An Environmental History  Told through Fire  of Europe and Europe's Encounter with the World (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)","description":"\u003cp\u003eStephen Pyne has been described as having a consciousness \"composed of equal parts historian  ecologist  philosopher  critic  poet  and sociologist.\" At this time in history when many people are trying to understand their true relationship with the natural environment  this book offers a remarkable contributionbreathtaking in the scope of its research and exhilarating to read.  Pyne takes the reader on a journey through time  exploring the terrain of Europe and the uses and abuses of its lands as well as  through migration and conquest  many parts of the rest of the world. Whether he is discussing the Mediterranean region  Russia  Scandinavia  the British Isles  central Europe  or colonized islands; whether he is considering the impact of agriculture  forestry  or Enlightenment thinking  the author brings an unmatched insight to his subject.  Vestal Fire takes its title from Vesta  Roman goddess of the hearth and keeper of the sacred fire on Mount Olympus. But the books title also suggests the strengths and limitations of Europes peculiar conception of fire  and through fire  of its relationship to nature. Between the untamed fire of the wilderness and the tended fire of the hearth lies a never-ending dialectic in which human beings struggle to control natural forces and processes that in fact can sometimes be directed but never wholly dominated or contained.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44984550096949,"sku":"ByrdShop_0295979488","price":41.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780295979489.jpg?v=1770836978","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/vestal-fire-an-environmental-history-told-through-fire-of-europe-and-europes-encounter-with-the-world-weyerhaeuser-environmental-books","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}