Tom Vanderbilt
Journalist and New York Times-bestselling author of Traffic
Jordan Thomas
Anthropologist and author of National Book Award finalist When It All Burns
“Megafires emerge from a series of fractured relationships—between fire, the land, our institutions, and each other.”
Photo credit: Merlijn Doomernik
Jordan Thomas is an anthropologist and former wildland firefighter who brings fresh insight to the conversation around climate change, disaster, and environmental justice. He is the author of the National Book Award finalist, When It All Burns, a personal account of firefighting and a sweeping history of America’s relationship with wildfire. An authentic and informative speaker, Thomas illustrates why environmental issues are social issues and urges audiences to rethink their role in the changing planet.
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About Jordan Thomas
Jordan Thomas is an anthropologist and former Los Padres Hotshot wildland firefighter whose career bridges frontline experience and academic scholarship. A Marshall Scholar and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California, Thomas is the author of the 2025 National Book Award finalist, When It All Burns.
As a speaker, Thomas connects lived experience with urgent global issues. Drawing on his time on the fireline and his research as an anthropologist, he talks about how humanity’s symbiotic relationship with wildfire became a war—and what can be done to change it back. Thomas tailors his presentations for diverse audiences, from corporate and university settings to environmental organizations and speakers series, inviting listeners to see wildfire not simply as a symbol of destruction, but as a mirror of the systems and values we inhabit.
Thomas is the author of When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World, a personal account of a single, brutal fire season with one of the most elite wildland firefighting crews in the United States. The Los Padres Hotshots are the “special forces” of wildfire suppression, charged with facing the nation’s most extreme blazes. Through his vivid storytelling, Thomas captures the danger, camaraderie, and exhaustion of the crew’s six-month season battling megafires that burn hotter, longer, and more unpredictably than ever before.
But When It All Burns is much more than a memoir of firefighting. Blending anthropology, ecology, and history, Thomas traces the evolution of America’s relationship with wildfire, from Indigenous fire stewardship and colonial suppression to the rise of the modern fire-industrial complex. He explores how corporate and political interests have shaped firefighting policy, often worsening the very disasters they claim to prevent. He challenges readers to rethink what it means to live with fire in the era of climate crisis and asks how we can build a more equitable, sustainable future.
Thomas’s writing has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, and The Drift, where he illuminates the intersections of culture, ecology, and policy. A Marshall Scholar, he earned graduate degrees from the University of Cambridge and Durham University before joining the Los Padres Hotshots. He is currently a Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California.
Contact us for more information about booking Jordan Thomas for your next event.
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Speaking Topics
The Creation of the Wildfire Crisis
In this talk, Jordan Thomas offers an on-the-ground perspective from his experience as a California hotshot crew member and traces the forces that fuel today’s megafires. Attendees will gain an understanding where these fires come from—and how firefighters survive on their edges.
The Narrative Life of Climate Change
What does it mean to approach scientific data as both a physical reality and a socially constructed narrative? Jordan Thomas looks at the process of narrating climate change, transforming environmental data into human stories, and creating a roadmap for narrating climate change through character-driven storytelling.
The Politics of the Planet
The climate crisis is as much a story about power and values as it is about carbon and technology, reshaping systems that reward profit over life and empowering those who labor within the damage. In this informative talk, Jordan Thomas spells out how corporate and political interests lead to ineffective fire management and unsafe, unjust conditions for frontline firefighters.
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Video
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Praise for Jordan Thomas
Praise for When It All Burns
In this engrossing work on wildfires and the environment, Thomas skillfully weaves together how historical events, genocide, politics, and the logging industry have all contributed to climate change, creating megafires throughout the American West.
— Library JournalThomas brings us to the front lines, deftly pulling the reader to the edge of the fire in evocative writing that reads like a thriller… Thinking about fire has never been more essential—Thomas charts a map toward the future.
— Kirkus (starred review)Wedding anthropological research and elegant descriptions of the natural world, Thomas builds an argument for a clear solution.
— The New YorkerA riveting story of the costs of climate change and the realities of this terrifying work, as well as an examination of the history that got us here and the very real lives now at risk.
— The New York TimesPassionately told, impeccably researched and important. . . . while Thomas’s detailed descriptions of grueling brush-hacking sessions and near-constant life-threatening scenarios are riveting, the book’s power comes from its methodical, clear-eyed and convincing explanation of how we wound up here in the first place—in a world where megafires inevitably rage out of control, annihilating every town and ecosystem in their path.
— The Washington Post -
Books by Jordan Thomas
Request Fees
and Availability
- 212 572-2013
- Jordan Thomas travels from Boston, MA
Featured Title
When It All Burns
“Exceptional. . . . When It All Burns is one of those books that immerses the reader in the nuances of a world most of us know only through the lens of tragedy and destruction. Thomas’ visceral, crystalline prose only adds fuel to the fire.” —Los Angeles Times
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