Structure

On Fire is a collection of 18 (including the introduction and epilogue) essays by Naomi Klein about the threat of climate change written from 2010 to the present. Klein is a widely respected thinker on this subject, and has been writing about it since 2008. What is most interesting about the collection's structure is that the essays are presented in chronological order so that the reader can see both how the world has changed over the decade that is covered and how Klein's thoughts on the subject have evolved as she gained more experience and a greater understanding.

Setting aside the introduction, which discusses events of the very recent past, the collection begins in 2010 with Klein's description of the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, providing an immediate and catastrophic example of the perils the barely regulated extractive industries represent. Klein introduces her theory of the link between climate change...