Sign-In
Cart
Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster
Paperback
21st Century United States HistoryEnvironmental StudiesGeneral World History
Publisher Price: $20.00
ISBN13: 9780063467958
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: Jan 5 2027
Pages: 272
Weight: 1.00
Language: English
New York Times Bestseller and #1 Los Angeles Times Bestseller
A gripping, unshakeable firsthand account (San Francisco Chronicle) of the firestorm that consumed Los Angeles, from the MS NOW reporter and New York Times bestselling author of Separated, who covered the fires on the ground as an LA native.
Read[s] like a sci-fi thriller. --Los Angeles Times
On the morning of January 7, 2025, a message pinged the phone of Jacob Soboroff, a national reporter for MS NOW. Big Palisades fire. We are evacuating, his brother texted within minutes of the blaze engulfing the hillside behind the home where he and his pregnant wife were living. Really bad. An attached photo showed a huge black plume rising from behind the house, an umbrella of smoke towering over everything they owned. Jacob rushed to the office of the bureau chief.
I should go. I grew up in the Palisades.
Soon he was on the front line of the blaze--his first live report of what would turn out to be weeks covering unimaginable destruction, from both the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, in Altadena. In the days to come, Soboroff appeared across the networks of NBC News as Los Angeles was ablaze, met with displaced residents and workers, and pressed Governor Gavin Newsom in an interview on Meet the Press. But no story Soboroff has covered at home or abroad--the trauma of family separation at the border, the displacement of the war in Ukraine, the collapse of order in Haiti--could have prepared him for reporting live as the hallmarks of his childhood were engulfed in flames around him while his hometown burned to the ground.
But for Soboroff, questions remained after the fires were controlled: what had he just witnessed? How could it have happened? Is it inevitable something like it will happen again? This set Soboroff off on months of reporting--with firefighters, fire victims, political leaders, academics, earth scientists, wildlife biologists, meteorologists and more--that made him keenly aware of how the misfortune of seeing his past carbonize was also a form of time travel into the dystopian world his children will inhabit. This is because the 2025 LA fires were not an isolated tragedy, but rather they are a harbinger--the fire of the future, in the words of one senior emergency--management official.
Firestorm is the story of the costliest wildfire in American history, the people it affected and the deeply personal connection to one journalist covering it. It is a love letter to Los Angeles, a yearning to understand the fires, and why America's new age of disaster we are living through portends that--without a reckoning of how Los Angeles burned--there is more yet, and worse, to come.
Also in
21st Century United States History
Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us about Our Past and Future
Shapiro, James
Hardcover
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Kobes Du Mez, Kristin
Paperback
Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department
Leonnig, Carol
Davis, Aaron C.
Hardcover
Up on Cove Mountain: Adventure, Tragedy, and a Quest for Meaning on the Appalachian Trail
Swift, Earl
Hardcover
The Vampire's Cult: The Untold Story of Obsession, Control, and a Shocking Small-Town Murder
Hardin, Chet
Paperback
United States of Oligarchy: How America's Wealthiest Ally with Dictators, Weaken the U.S., and Destroy Democracy
Michel, Casey
Hardcover
The Counterrevolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the Maga Movement
Hanson, Victor Davis
Hardcover
Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York
Gottlieb, Dylan
Hardcover
The Everywhere Millionaire: Who Is Really Rich in America and How They Got There
Zwick, Eric
Zidar, Owen
Hardcover
Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small American Town
Hayden, Michael Edison
Hardcover
All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump
Scaramucci, Anthony
Hardcover
Damn Fine Soldiers: The Epic Story of Task Force 2-7 Infantry and the 21-Day Attack to Baghdad That Changed Modern Warfare
Paul, Matthew
Rutter, Scott E.
Paperback
A History of the United States in Five Crashes: Stock Market Meltdowns That Defined a Nation
Nations, Scott
Paperback
I Will Follow You Anywhere: The True Story of the 9/11 Responders Who Took on Congress
Feal, John
Hardcover
The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End
Howe, Neil
Paperback
The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate
Dozier, Curtis
Hardcover
Whiplash: From the Battle for Obamacare to the War on Science
Morone, James a.
Blumenthal, David
Hardcover
Survivor Legends: The Players Who Changed the Game (Unofficial & Unauthorized)
Merchant, Shaan
Hardcover
The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy
Taylor, Matthew D.
Hardcover
Happy Semiquincentennial, America!: 250 Reasons Why America Is Still Worth Celebrating
Payleitner, Jay
Hardcover
This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century
Engler, Mark
Engler, Paul
Paperback
The Trump Indictments: The 91 Criminal Counts Against the Former President of the United States
Velshi, Ali
Paperback
Cash on the Block: The Broken Promise of Reinvestment in Black Urban Neighborhoods
Satter, Beryl
Hardcover
The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era
Gerstle, Gary
Paperback
The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End
Howe, Neil
Hardcover
To Rescue the American Spirit: Teddy Roosevelt and the Birth of a Superpower (Large Print Edition)
Baier, Bret
Paperback
Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department (Large Print Edition)
Davis, Aaron C.
Leonnig, Carol
Paperback
Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency
Diamond, Larry
Paperback
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
Heilemann, John
Halperin, Mark
Paperback
Holding Fast in Heavy Seas: Leadership for Turbulent Times by Rear Admiral
Gallaudet Us Navy (Ret), Tim
Paperback
Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law
Rothstein, Leah
Rothstein, Richard
Paperback
The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion
Brinkley, Douglas
Paperback
Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938, Ninth Revised Edition
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
Biden's Corruption and War: The True Story of the 1 Billion Dollar Prosecutor
Shokin, Viktor
Paperback
2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America
Pager, Tyler
Arnsdorf, Isaac
Dawsey, Josh
Hardcover
The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective
Johnson, Steven
Paperback
Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul
Fanone, Michael
Shiffman, John
Paperback
The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future
Jones, Robert P.
Paperback
White Fear: How the Browning of America Is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds
Martin, Roland
Lakins, Leah
Hardcover
Holding Fast in Heavy Seas: Leadership for Turbulent Times by Rear Admiral
Gallaudet Us Navy (Ret), Tim
Hardcover
America: The Last Best Hope (Volume III): From the Collapse of Communism to the Rise of Radical Islam
Bennett, William J.
Paperback
Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law
Rothstein, Leah
Rothstein, Richard
Hardcover
Lessons from Bobby: Ten Reasons Robert F. Kennedy Still Matters (Large Print Edition)
Matthews, Chris
Hardcover
Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland
Zito, Salena
Hardcover
Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump
Ackerman, Spencer
Paperback
Latinoland (Spanish Edition): Un Retrato de la Mayor Minoría de Estados Unidos
Arana, Marie
Paperback
White Poverty: How Exposing Myths about Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy
Barber, William J., II
Paperback
New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West
Sanger, David E.
Paperback
Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next
Onishi, Bradley
Paperback
Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11 (20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition)
DiMarco, Damon
Paperback
New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement
Williams, Juan
Paperback
Who's Your Founding Father?: Discovering the Mecdec in the True Cradle of American Independence
Fleming, David
Paperback
Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the NBA
Runstedtler, Theresa
Paperback
The Only Plane in the Sky (Revised and Expanded Edition for the 25th Anniversary): An Oral History of 9/11
Graff, Garrett M.
Hardcover
The American Century: A History of the United States from 1900 to the Pandemic
Cohen, Rodgir
Paperback
Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic: Reggie, Rollie, Catfish, and Charlie Finley's Swingin' A's
Turbow, Jason
Paperback
No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States
Chemerinsky, Erwin
Paperback
A Republic If You Can Keep It: Reflections on an America in Crisis
Gaillard, Frye
Tucker, Cynthia
Paperback
Subway: The Curiosities, Secrets, and Unofficial History of the New York City Transit System
Morris, John E.
Hardcover
New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement
Williams, Juan
Hardcover
We're Not Leaving: 9/11 Responders Tell Their Stories of Courage, Sacrifice, and Renewal
Luft, Benjamin J.
Paperback
Biden's Corruption and War The True Story of the 1 Billion Dollar Prosecutor
Shokin, Viktor
Hardcover
We the Presidents: How a Century of Presidents from Harding to Trump Forged Today's America
Gruner, Ronald
Hardcover
Say Hello to the Bad Guys: How Professional Wrestling's New World Order Changed America
Raimondi, Marc
Hardcover
Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections
Daley, David
Paperback
America's Next Great Awakening: What the Convergence of Mysticism, Religion, Atheism & Science Means for the Nation. And You.
Naughton, Christopher W.
Paperback
All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis
McLean, Bethany
Nocera, Joe
Paperback