About This Life : Journeys on the Threshold of Memory by Barry Lopez.
Lopez has always been interested in tearing down artificial divides between nature and culture,
landscape and identity, and nowhere does he do so more
powerfully than in About This Life. These essays cover ground from the remote (in the group of travel essays entitled "Out of
Country") to the familiar ("Indwelling"), the personal to the archetypal ("Remembrance" and "An Opening Quartet").
Whether he's joyriding around the world with air cargo,
performing burials for animals found dead by the side of the road, or lamenting
the commodification of the American landscape, Lopez writes with a surgeon's
precision, a musician's ear, and a painter's eye for beauty found in unexpected
places.
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American
Nature Writing 1999 by John Murray
(Editor)
This newest in the Sierra Club's acclaimed Nature
Writing series includes autobiographical writings, essays, short
stories, and poetry that communicate a passion for nature which enhances
our appreciation of a wide range of landscapes and wildlife. Diverse in
mood and setting, the 19 selections, including 7 in print for the first
time, represent the best of the genre. Contributors include Rick Bass,
Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams and many others.
This collection encompasses a variety of genres,
including fiction, journal writing, poetry, personal essays, and feature
articles. Readers will hunt for peregrine falcons near the Great Salt
Lake with Terry Tempest Williams; sneak into Cuba with Bob Shacochis to
observe the Ernest Hemingway International Classic Billfish Tournament;
and explore the botanical and paleontological wonders of the Central
American land bridge with David Rains Wallace. Also included are an
excerpt from Annie Dillard's novel, The Living, and a previously
unpublished selection from the journals of Edward Abbey. At last here is
nature writing at its boisterous, gritty, and lyrical best.
"Nature writing is poised at the beginning of a
period of wonderful exuberance. All of the excitement that attends the
beginning of a new century, and the start of a new millennium, together
with a growing awareness of the interdependence of nature and culture,
cannot help but fuel this historic genre. I believe that as the genre
attracts more and more gifted young writers, and addresses increasingly
the compelling political and social issues of our time, it will gain in
stature and maturity, offering what Barry Lopez so eloquently called 'a
literature of hope.'" -- John A. Murray, from
the Introduction
John A. Murray is Assistant Professor of English at
the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and the author/editor of eleven
previous books, including Wild Africa: Three Centuries of Nature Writing
from Africa, Nature's New Voices, The Great Bear: Contemporary Writings
on the Grizzly, The Islands and the Sea, and A Republic of Rivers. --This
text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Contributors: Bruce Berger, Franklin Burroughs, Peter
A. Christian, Barbara Drake, Marybeth Holleman, Carolyn Kremers, Ken
Lamberton, Gretchen Legler, Natasha Ma (pseudonym), Susan Marsh, John
Noland, Dave Petersen, Jeff Ripple, Susan Tweit, Glen Vanstrum, Louise
Wagenknecht, & Kathryn Wilder
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