Synopses & Reviews
Edward Hoagland is not only one of the best writers of our time; he is also one of the keenest observers of nature and one of the most celebrated essayists. His subjects range from the natural history of owls to the delicious mystery of wolves ("Howling Back at the Wolves"); the demise of the red wolf ("Lament the Red Wolves"); the nature of a bear-stalker ("Bears, Bears, Bears"); admirable qualities of other creatures (in his famous essay "The Courage of Turtles"); and the intricate workings of an old farm's ecosystem. Hoagland's exploration, from the Okefenokee swamp to the brawny Belize River, illuminates both the exotic and the wilds of our own backyards. Hoagland reports from the frontlines of life. He recounts fascinating detail with exacting prose. He's irascible, brilliant, probing, sharp-witted, and brutally honest about himself and the state of the natural world.
No one who admires John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, and Edward Abbey should miss this definitive collection. It will forever change the way you view the natural world.
Review
"The Thoreau of our time, an essayist so intensely personal, so sharp-eyed and deep-sighted, so tender and tough, lyrical and elegiac, as to transmute a simple stroll into a full-blown mystical experience."
--The Washington Post
"He is, as far as I know, the best essayist working in our perishable republic."
--Edward Abbey "One of the best celebrants of the natural world."
--The Atlantic
"Hoagland is surely one of our most truthful writers about nature . . ."
--The New York Times Book Review
Review
"One of the best celebrants of the natural world."
--The Atlantic
Synopsis
The best observations on nature by the finest essayist of our time.
About the Author
EDWARD HOAGLAND, one of America's most distinguished writers, is the author of seventeen books, including Walking the Dead Diamond River (page 196), The Courage of Turtles, Red Wolves and Black Bears (page 195), African Calliope, Tugman's Passage (page 196), Balancing Acts (page 192), and Tigers & Ice (page 203). He lives in Vermont and teaches in the English Department at Bennington College.
Table of Contents
Animals.The courage of turtles --The war in the woods --Hailing the elusory mountain lion --Howling back at the wolves --Bears, bears, bears --Lament the red wolf --Nature's seesaw --Wild things --Behold now behemoth --Places.Of cows and Cambodia --Walking the Dead Diamond River --Mountain Notch --Up the black to Chalkyitsik --In Okefenokee --O Wyoming --Wowlas and coral --I have seen the elephant --A peaceable kingdom --Earth's eye --Natural light --People.In praise of John Muir --About H. D. Thoreau --Abbey's Road --Ansel Adams at 100 --Selborne's Sage.