Description
"A reportorial tour de force."--Erik Larson, author of The Splendid and the Vile
On November 8, 2018, the people of Paradise, California, awoke to a mottled gray sky and gusty winds. Soon the Camp Fire was upon them, gobbling an acre a second. Less than two hours after the fire ignited, the town was engulfed in flames, the residents trapped in their homes and cars. By the next morning, eighty-five people were dead.
San Francisco Chronicle reporter Lizzie Johnson was there as the town of Paradise burned. She saw the smoldering rubble of a historic covered bridge and the beloved Black Bear Diner and she stayed long afterward, visiting shelters, hotels, and makeshift camps. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and reams of public records, including 911 calls and testimony from a grand jury investigation, Johnson provides a minute-by-minute account of the Camp Fire, following residents and first responders as they fight to save themselves and their town. We see a young mother fleeing with her newborn; a school bus full of children in search of an escape route; and a group of paramedics, patients, and nurses trapped in a cul-de-sac, fending off the fire with rakes and hoses.
In Paradise, Johnson documents the unfolding tragedy with empathy and nuance. But she also investigates the root causes, from runaway climate change to a deeply flawed alert system to Pacific Gas and Electric's decades-long neglect of critical infrastructure. A cautionary tale for a new era of megafires, Paradise is the gripping story of a town wiped off the map and the determination of its people to rise again.
Product Details
| Publisher | Crown Publishing Group (NY) |
| Publish Date | August 17, 2021 |
| Pages | 432 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Hardback |
| EAN/UPC | 9780593136386 |
| Dimensions | 9.3 X 6.1 X 1.1 inches | 1.6 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
"Paradise is a propulsive, compassionate tale of lives forever altered and the lessons we must learn about our rapidly changing planet. In our new age of expanding fire disasters, Lizzie Johnson offers a detailed and clear-eyed explanation of where to lay the blame--starting with generations of neglect of nature, and ending with the utility company that, in the words of one victim, 'killed a town.'"--Robert Kolker, author of Hidden Valley Road
"In Paradise, Lizzie Johnson masterfully weaves together stories of improbable survival and immeasurable loss to create a compelling portrait of a community brought to its knees by a ferocious fire . . . This is a book about the strength of the human spirit, and also an urgent and necessary call for action."--Fernanda Santos, author of The Fire Line
"In a remarkable feat of empathetic reporting, Paradise takes us inside the lives of people facing a rapidly unfolding horror. Lizzie Johnson has a masterful command of this rich and tragic story . . . Equal parts thriller, investigation, and deeply rendered portrait of an American town, Paradise will leave you breathless."--Evan Ratliff, author of The Mastermind
"In the tradition of disaster-reporting classics like 102 Minutes and Five Days at Memorial, Paradise delivers everything you expect from the best narrative nonfiction: on-the-ground reporting, incisive writing, and thoughtful analysis. . . . A masterful achievement."--Nate Blakeslee, author of American Wolf
"With masterful reporting that drops us right into the flames, Lizzie Johnson shows how firefighters and neighbors risked everything to save each other--and pulls back to reveal the political failures and corporate greed that lit the blaze. She is a major new talent, and this book turned me upside down."--Jason Fagone, author of The Woman Who Smashed Codes
"Paradise is an extraordinary book. The enormity of nature, the humanity and dignity of individual people confronting it--Lizzie Johnson has woven them all together brilliantly."--Jon Mooallem, author This Is Chance!
"Part Rachel Carson, part The Perfect Storm, Lizzie Johnson's Paradise is vital and magnificently crafted--and a book every person who cares about the planet and its citizens should read."--Elizabeth Weil, co-author of The Girl Who Smiled Beads
"Out of the ash, Lizzie Johnson has written a memorial to its victims, a tribute to its heroes and survivors and a reckoning of its kindling and match. Among the culpable, we find ourselves."--Mark Arax, author of The Dreamt Land
"This book kept me up reading late into the night and then buried itself so deep in my head that I couldn't fall asleep. Lizzie Johnson has written that rare page-turner built on empathy and rigorous reporting. Paradise is both a definitive account of California's historic wildfire and a crucial warning of the disasters to come."--Eli Saslow, author of Rising Out of Hatred
"As the climate warms, our world burns. In Lizzie Johnson's Paradise, you feel the heat. Reading it makes your clothes smell like smoke and your heart melt. This is great storytelling, full of human drama, suffering, and redemption."--Jeff Goodell, author of The Water Will Come
"[Johnson] balances the horror with compassion. . . . Crucial, comprehensive, and moving."--Publishers Weekly
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