Book excerpt: In Mountains of Memory, seasoned wilderness dweller Don Scheese charts a long season of watching for and fighting fires in the largest federal wilderness area in the mainland United States. In the tradition of Edward Abbey and Gary Snyder, Scheese offers readers a meditation on the meaning and value of wilderness at the beginning of the twenty-first century, painting a complex portrait of the natural, institutional, and historical forces that have shaped the great forested landscapes of the American West. Book jacket.