Fires in the Night - The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI, and a Secret History of Eco

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 past, present, and future of the environmental movement

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 on a nearby wall: “EARTH LIBERATION FRONT.” Over the next decade, the Earth Liberation Front would carry out the most audacious series of politically motivated arsons in American history. Their targets—car dealerships, slaughterhouses, lumber companies, a $20 million Vail ski resort—were chosen to send a message: if the government wouldn’t halt the destruction of the natural world, they would. Despite causing no deaths, the ELF would soon be branded the foremost domestic terrorism threat in America and become the target of one of the FBI’s largest investigations.

About the author

Matthew Wolfe’s reporting has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, the Atlantic, National Geographic, and the New Republic. He has a PhD in sociology from New York University, where he is currently a fellow at NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge.

Product details

• Authors: Matthew Wolfe
• Publisher: Viking USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 23.06.2026
• EAN: 9780593654552
• ISBN: 978-0-593-65455-2
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 21 mm
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; SCIENCE / Global Warming & Climate Change, True Crime, Biography: general, Climate Change, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Criminals & Outlaws, TRUE CRIME / Historical