Wisconsin newspaper editor James Card recently published the book Chainsaw Love: Field Notes on the World’s Most Dynamic Power Tool through Wisconsin Historical Society Press.
Card is the editor for the Waupaca County Post, Stevens Point Gazette, New London Press Star and Clintonville Tribune Gazette.
Described as “part homage, part social history, and part field guide,” Chainsaw Love is a perfect book for chainsaw users of all stripes—from loggers to conservationists, woodworkers to weekend cabin-dwellers—and anyone curious about this magnificent and under-appreciated machine. The book is available by clicking here.
In Chainsaw Love, author Card celebrates this formidable implement in unflinching style, sharing stories and reflections about the world of chainsaws and the people who use and appreciate them.
Card describes the personal freedom that comes from harvesting your own trees for firewood and introduces readers to lumberjack competitors, hot-saw builders, and the sculpture carvers who take sawing to new heights.
Chainsaw Love asserts the key role chainsaws play in clearing the right-of-way for power lines to keep the electrical grid humming; in forestry and conservation efforts to maintain desirable ecosystems; and in the sciences, where ecologists and astronomers use chainsaws to age trees for scientific research. Card also considers the chainsaw’s place in pop culture, from movies to rock songs to presidential photo ops.
Card has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Foreign Policy, and other national publications. He is the only journalist in history to have stories about ice fishing and deer hunting on the front page of The New York Times.
Between stints as a magazine editor and a journalist, Card worked as a line-clearance tree faller. He is the author of The Dawn Patrol Diaries, recounting his experiences as South Korea’s only fly-fishing guide. He lives in central Wisconsin and cuts firewood with a chainsaw throughout the year.
