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Fires in the Night
- Author
- Matthew Wolfe
- Narrator
- Jason Keller
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 16 July 2026
- Run Time
- 9 hours 54 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
‘Absorbing, action-packed’ ANTHEA LAWSON
‘Explosive … fascinating’ RENI EDDO-LODGE
‘Entertaining’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
The explosive true story of a secret group of radicals who launched a clandestine battle to save the planet, and what their legacy illuminates about the future of our climate crisis.
In the early hours of October 28, 1996, a driver in rural Oregon spotted flames rising from a federal ranger station. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, but not before discovering a cryptic phrase spray-painted nearby: “EARTH LIBERATION FRONT.” Over the next decade, the Earth Liberation Front would carry out the most audacious politically motivated arsons in US history. Targeting car dealerships, lumber companies and a $20 million ski resort, they wanted to send a message: if the government wouldn’t halt the destruction of the natural world, they would. Despite causing no deaths, the ELF was branded the nation’s foremost domestic terrorism threat and became the target of one of the FBI’s largest ever investigations.
Fires in the Night is the definitive story of the ELF’s rise and unravelling. For years, members of ELF, many of them close friends, led double lives, meticulously planning and staging their attacks while trying to manage personal frictions and stay one step ahead of the government. Drawing on years of original reporting and interviews, including with reclusive activists breaking their silence for the first time, journalist Matthew Wolfe offers a thrilling, intimate account of a moment when the actions of radical environmentalists challenged mainstream complacency.
As the climate crisis continues to accelerate, Wolfe asks the most pressing question of our time: facing the end of the world as we know it, exactly what kind of resistance is justified?
‘A larger story of the questions surrounding radical resistance, both during the late 1990s and today’ NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
‘At once a cinematically propulsive narrative, a herculean feat of reporting and a sweeping work of modern environmental history’ ROBERT MOOR, author of On Trails
‘A brilliant meditation on how a social movement draws its own moral lines’ ERIC KLINENBERG, author of Palaces for the People
‘Masterful reporting. As riveting as any thriller’ SETH HARP, author of The Fort Bragg Cartel
Critics Review
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‘More than just an account of the F.B.I.’s clashes with that Pacific Northwest group, this is a larger story of the questions surrounding radical resistance, both during the late 1990s and today’ New York Times Book Review
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‘Entertaining stuff, snappy and picturesque’ Daily Telegraph
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‘Reads like a brilliantly paced political thriller … so compulsive, I lapped it up in two days’ Nikesh Shukla, author of Brown Baby
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‘Wolfe’s absorbing, action-packed yet thoughtful account … takes readers right into the decisions taken by these environmental activists’ Anthea Lawson, author of How Not To Save The World
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‘Matthew Wolfe’s writing on environmental militancy is explosive. Fires in the Night is a fascinating study of the contradictions, convictions, and personal costs that shape political movements’ Reni Eddo-Lodge, author of Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race
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‘Masterful reporting. As riveting as any thriller … couldn't be more relevant today’ Seth Harp, author of The Fort Bragg Cartel
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‘Cinematic, suspenseful, totally immersive. This is nonfiction as film noir. Matthew Wolfe’s unbelievably meticulous reporting puts us inside the minds and meetings of a secretive group fighting, as they see it, for the life of the planet’ Zoë Schlanger, author of The Light Eaters
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‘Riveting … a brilliant meditation on how a social movement draws its own moral lines’ Eric Klinenberg, author of Palaces for the People
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‘At once a cinematically propulsive narrative, a herculean feat of reporting, and a sweeping work of modern environmental history, this book is a marvel’ Robert Moor, author of In Trees
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‘A fascinating history of the Earth Liberation Front … Wolfe captures the urgency that gave rise to the group and poses potent questions about the ethical boundaries of extremism. Readers will be rapt’ Publishers Weekly
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‘Wolfe is skilled at creating strong plot-driven narratives, a talent he brings to bear in this often nail-biting page-turner’ Red Pepper
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Details
- Author
- Matthew Wolfe
- Narrator
- Jason Keller
- Duration
- 9 hours 54 minutes
- Release Date
- 16 July 2026
- ISBN
- 9780008608323
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Pressure groups, protest movements and non-violent action, True crime, Green politics / ecopolitics / environmentalism, Revolutionary groups and movements, Environmentalist thought and ideology, Climate change
Synopsis
‘Absorbing, action-packed’ ANTHEA LAWSON ‘Explosive … fascinating’ RENI EDDO-LODGE ‘Entertaining’ DAILY TELEGRAPH The explosive true story of a secret group of radicals who launched a clandestine battle to save the planet, and what their legacy illuminates about the future of our climate crisis. In the early hours of October 28, 1996, a driver in rural Oregon spotted flames rising from a federal ranger station. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, but not before discovering a cryptic phrase spray-painted nearby: “EARTH LIBERATION FRONT.” Over the next decade, the Earth Liberation Front would carry out the most audacious politically motivated arsons in US history. Targeting car dealerships, lumber companies and a $20 million ski resort, they wanted to send a message: if the government wouldn’t halt the destruction of the natural world, they would. Despite causing no deaths, the ELF was branded the nation’s foremost domestic terrorism threat and became the target of one of the FBI’s largest ever investigations. Fires in the Night is the definitive story of the ELF’s rise and unravelling. For years, members of ELF, many of them close friends, led double lives, meticulously planning and staging their attacks while trying to manage personal frictions and stay one step ahead of the government. Drawing on years of original reporting and interviews, including with reclusive activists breaking their silence for the first time, journalist Matthew Wolfe offers a thrilling, intimate account of a moment when the actions of radical environmentalists challenged mainstream complacency. As the climate crisis continues to accelerate, Wolfe asks the most pressing question of our time: facing the end of the world as we know it, exactly what kind of resistance is justified? ‘A larger story of the questions surrounding radical resistance, both during the late 1990s and today’ NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW ‘At once a cinematically propulsive narrative, a herculean feat of reporting and a sweeping work of modern environmental history’ ROBERT MOOR, author of On Trails ‘A brilliant meditation on how a social movement draws its own moral lines’ ERIC KLINENBERG, author of Palaces for the People ‘Masterful reporting. As riveting as any thriller’ SETH HARP, author of The Fort Bragg Cartel
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