HIST 2442 Fire and Disaster in American History

Fulfills US History Requirement for History Majors. Fire is both a tool and a threatan elemental force that humans have long tried to master. We use it to cook, heat, and power our world, yet when it escapes control, it can consume cities and forests. This course traces a century of changing relationships to fire in the United States, from reforms that curbed urban conflagrations to modern battles against wildfire. Drawing on urban, political, and environmental history, students will analyze how Americans have sought to contain fire and consider what it might mean, in a warming world, to live more sustainably with it.