THE WORLD IS ON FIRE
Dr. Joni Tevis
Joni Tevis’ The World is on Fire: Scrap, Treasure, and Songs of Apocalypse is a nonfiction book about living in a haunted world. Its essays draw on material gathered from her trips to San Jose, California, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, the Cave of the Apocalypse in Patmos, Greece, and elsewhere.
In crafting the work, Tevis researched sources ranging from oral histories of atomic testing, Life articles from the late 1950s, compendium of beliefs such as John Frazer’s The Golden Bough, declassified films of atomic tests conducted in the Nevada desert, and clips of Buddy Holly performances to help her come to terms with the atomic history of the United States.
A Furman English professor since 2008, Tevis has worked as a park ranger, factory worker and cemetary plot salesperson. The World is on Fire is her second book of nonfiction with Milkweed Editions, a nonprofit publisher based in Minneapolis that is dedicated to publishing literary work with an emphasis on place.
from the Fall 2017 issue of the Furman Magazine, by John Roberts