What happens when a sharp, young anthropologist joins an elite wildland firefighting crew — when scholarship co-mingles with blood, burns and sweat on the frontlines of America’s largest fires?

In his book “When It All Burns” (Penguin RandomHouse, 2025), UC Santa Barbara’s Jordan Thomas sets out to answer a straightforward question: What led to the megafires currently scorching the West? What emerged was an immersive account of a changing world.

“These wildfires we’re encountering in California are not natural disasters,” said Thomas, a doctoral candidate in the Anthropology Department. “They’re products of choices that real people have made historically and continue to make today.”

On Oct. 9, Thomas will discuss the genesis of California’s wildfire crisis at UCSB’s Interdisciplinar

See Full Page