American fire, love, arson, and life in a vanishing land, by Monica Hesse
Type
Label
American fire, love, arson, and life in a vanishing land, by Monica Hesse
Language
eng
Form of composition
other
Format of music
not applicable
Literary text for sound recordings
othernot applicable
Main title
American fire
Music parts
not applicable
Responsibility statement
by Monica Hesse
Sub title
love, arson, and life in a vanishing land
Summary
Shocked by a 5-month arson spree that left rural Virginia reeling, Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse drove down to Accomack County to cover the trial of Charlie Smith, who pled guilty to sixty-seven counts of arson. But Charlie wasn't lighting fires alone: he had an accomplice, his girlfriend Tonya Bundick. Through her depiction of the dangerous shift that happened in their passionate relationship, Hesse brilliantly brings to life the once-thriving coastal community and its distressed inhabitants, who had already been decimated by a punishing economy before they were terrified by a string of fires they could not explain. Incorporating this drama into the long-overlooked history of arson in the United States, "American Fire" re-creates the anguished nights that this quiet county spent lit up in flames, mesmerizingly evoking a microcosm of rural America, a land half gutted before the fires even began. 2017
Target audience
specialized
Transposition and arrangement
not applicable
Classification
Creator
Incoming Resources
- Has instance1