American Fire: Love, Arson, And Life In A Vanishing Land

Name: American Fire: Love, Arson, And Life In A Vanishing Land
Author: Monica Hesse
ISBN: 9781631490514

by Monica Hesse

One of NPR's Best Books of 2017 A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year A breathtaking feat of reportage, American Fire combines procedural with love story, redefining American tragedy for our time. The arsons started on a cold November midnight and didn’t stop for months. Night after night, the people of Accomack County waited to see which building would burn down next, regarding each other at first with compassion, and later suspicion. Vigilante groups sprang up, patrolling the rural Virginia coast with cameras and camouflage. Volunteer firefighters slept at their stations. The arsonist seemed to target abandoned buildings, but local police were stretched too thin to surveil them all. Accomack was desolate—there were hundreds of abandoned buildings.…

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"Monica Hesse’s book reads like a great article you never want to end. The Washington Post feature writer has turned a one-off assignment in rural Accomack County, Va., into a stunning read. This true crime love story gets in the heads of two arsonists who lit more than 80 fires on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Hesse spent several months reporting on the community that lived through the fires, from volunteer firefighters to overworked police officers to the people whose homes burned to the ground. This story of love, betrayal, economic hardship and desolation offers a nuanced view of life in small-town America."

NPR Books We Love — 2017 · apps.npr.org