A Natural History of Nature Writing - Softcover

Stewart, Frank

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1559632798 ISBN 13: 9781559632799

Publisher: Island Press, 1994

Synopsis

A Natural History of Nature Writing is a penetrating overview of the origins and development of a uniquely American literature. Essayist and poet Frank Stewart describes in rich and compelling prose the lives and works of the most prominent American nature writers of the19th and 20th centuries, including:

• Henry D. Thoreau, the father of American nature writing.
• John Burroughs, a schoolteacher and failed businessman who found his calling as a writer and elevated the nature essay to a loved and respected literary form.
• John Muir, founder of Sierra Club, who celebrated the wilderness of the Far West as few before him had.
• Aldo Leopold, a Forest Service employee and scholar who extended our moral responsibility to include all animals and plants.
• Rachel Carson, a scientist who raised the consciousness of the nation by revealing the catastrophic effects of human intervention on the Earth's living systems.
• Edward Abbey, an outspoken activist who charted the boundaries of ecological responsibility and pushed these boundaries to political extremes.

Stewart highlights the controversies ignited by the powerful and eloquent prose of these and other writers with their expansive – and often strongly political – points of view. Combining a deeply-felt sense of wonder at the beauty surrounding us with a rare ability to capture and explain the meaning of that beauty, nature writers have had a profound effect on American culture and politics. A Natural History of Nature Writing is an insightful examination of an important body of American literature.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In Western society we feel neither entirely at one with our fellow creatures, nor entirely separate. Over the years, nature writers have struggled, in memorable language, with this feeling of "in-betweeness". A Natural History of Nature Writing shows us how this genre combines the rigors of science with the beauty of art to make our minds and our hearts whole. The book offers a penetrating overview of the origins and development of this uniquely American literature. Essayist and poet Frank Stewart describes in rich and compelling prose the lives and works of the most prominent American nature writers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

About the Author:

Frank Stewart is an acclaimed writer and port, winner of the prestigious Whiting Writer's Award, and is a professor of English at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

About this edition

• Publisher: Island Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 1559632798
• ISBN 13: 9781559632799
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 302