Journalists, poets, photographers, artists and ordinary citizens have chronicled the profound and lasting impact of the Camp Fire. Here are the books we've covered in the Biblio File, with excerpts from my reviews.
THE CAMP FIRE 2018: LIVING ON THE RIDGE by Paula Link
- "Link summarizes some of the harrowing accounts of escape found on YouTube and there are dozens of full-color photographs."
PARADISE: ONE TOWN'S STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE CAN AMERICAN WILDFIRE by Lizzie Johnson
- "Johnson's story, the fruit of 500 interviews, is unrivaled in its gripping emotional intensity, taking readers deeply into the lives of mostly working-class Ridge residents that fateful Thursday."
AFTER/ASHES: A CAMP FIRE ANTHOLOGY edited by John LaPine
- "As the editors write in a new anthology of prose, poetry, and images--a creative response to the Camp Fire--it took seventeen days to completely contain it."
THE CAMP FIRE: DREAMS, NIGHTMARES, HOPES by J.R. Henson
- "His escape on the day of the fire is more harrowing because his truck is low on gas. … He traces his emotional journey through poems and essays…."
I ESCAPED THE CALIFORNIA CAMP FIRE by Scott Peters and S.D. Brown
- "The story is a fictionalized account of the fire which draws on published reports."
FIRE IN PARADISE: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano
- "Together, drawing on hundreds of interviews, they tell the story of the Camp Fire with skill and even-handedness."
PEOPLE, PLACES & PIECES OF PARADISE by Douglas Keister
- "Keister has created stunning images that capture the soul of Paradise…."
PARADISE ISN'T LOST: EMBRACING RESILIENCE IN THE FACE OF LOSS by Kari Carter
- "There are losses, from family members to precious possessions, even her marriage. Yet she finds resilience."
MY NAME IS HALEY AND I LIVE IN PARADISE…" written and illustrated by Steve Ferchaud
- "Paradise memories in a children's book for all ages."
THE CALIFORNIA CAMP FIRE: REFLECTIONS AND REMNANTS by photographer Ron Schwager
- "… a masterpiece that will cause readers to pause and reflect with every turn of the page."
CALIFORNIA BURNING: THE FALL OF PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC—AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR AMERICAN'S POWER GRID by Katherine Blunt
- "… a measured, and yet devastating, history of PG&E."
BURNT OFFERINGS by illustrator Steve Ferchaud
- "After the fire he decided to compile all 62 sketches into a book, the proceeds of which would go to helping Camp Fire survivors."
BURN SCAR: A CONTEMPORARY DISASTER THRILLER by T.J. Tao (Michael J. Orr)
- After the surviving the fire, the author offers a fictionalized version set in Idaho.
PARADISE FOUND: A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM'S RISE FROM THE ASHES by Bill Plaschke
- "Reporting on the Bobcats' first football season after the Camp Fire."
FIRE ON THE RIDGE: A COLLECTION OF POEMS by Bill Hartley
- The destruction of Joy Lyn's Candies, and poems to release sorrow.
OUT OF THE ASHES: ONE SURVIVOR'S STORY IN THE AFTERMATH OF TWO HISTORIC WILD FIRES by Antoinette Peppler
- The Saddle Fire in 2016, then the Camp Fire.
WHERE TO NEXT? By Joan Goodreau
- From evacuations to a pandemic, the Chico poet asks a profound question.
THE SOUND OF THE SNOW GEESE: A TRUE STORY OF SURVIVING CALIFORNIA'S DEADLIEST WILDFIRE by Dax Meredith
- "… caught in the Camp Fire as she and one of her young sons fled toward Paradise from Magalia."
