American Nature Writing 1998 [Paperback]

John A. Murray (Compiler)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

This newest volume in the Sierra Club's acclaimed The 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 nineteen selections, including seven in print for the first time, represent the best of the genre.

Readers will delight in Chip Rawlins's memoir of life in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, Dan O'Brien's tale of falconry on the Great Plains, David Rains Wallace's exploration of the Darien, Barry Lopez's essay on the coral reefs of the Caribbean island of Bonaire, and Marybeth Holleman's evocative essay on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea.

Other contributors are Rick Bass, SueEllen Campbell, Lisa Couturier, John Daniel, Jan Grover, Penny Harter, Adele Ne Jame, Homer Kizer, W. S. Merwin, David Petersen, April N. Rieveschl, Alianor True, Louise Wagenknecht, and Terry Tempest Williams.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The sixth annual volume in this series (formerly published by Sierra Club Books) is an uneven collection of 18 essays, including a few gems. Series editor Murray, aiming for geographic diversity and alternating male and female voices, has uncovered some fresh talents: Ken Lamberton, who learns to embrace life by watching the birds around his prison cell ("Raptors and Flycatchers"); John Noland, whose "The Way of a River" evokes "the indelible markings of place in the blood"; and Franklin Burroughs, whose "Of Moose and a Moose Hunter" captures the nature of these "gangly and ungainly" beasts. Fans of earlier editions will welcome the return of Louise Wagenknecht, David Petersen and Marybeth Holleman but will mourn the absence of such well-established former contributors as Rick Bass, Terry Tempest Williams and Barry Lopez. Some of the essays fall short of the standard of excellence Murray sets for himself, while others, such as Gretchen Legler's "All the Powerful Invisible Things," convey personal catharsis but fail to evoke vividly the natural world. While a mixed bag, this book does highlight the next generation of American nature writers.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Sierra Club Books draws from recent books but much more from literary and general interest periodicals ranging from Antaeus to Esquire to amass the first in what promises to be an annual anthology of first-rate writing in a single genre. Like science fiction and fantasy annuals nowadays, this newcomer includes poetry, arguably with greater superficial justification, since nature writing could as well be in verse as in prose. There's no fiction--which does not mean no stories--herein, and the authors include, besides many less famous names, the late Edward Abbey (in a previously unpublished essay), Annie Dillard, Bob Shacochis, William Kittredge, and Barry Lopez. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Sierra Club Books; 1ST edition (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871569485
• ISBN-13: 978-0871569486
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,403,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nature Writing Saved!, September 7, 2000

By 

Randall Barnhart (Earth) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Nature Writing 1999 (Paperback)

Nature writing has for too long been the exclusive preserve of the flower cutters. You know, those folks who sit in their back gardens, treating the natural world like God is some Almighty Gardener. All is right with the world and the lion will lie down with the lamb.

T'ain't so.

Nature is an inscrutable on-going event. Life and violent death are everywhere. We are not above it, looking down on Nature as if it were a clock-work automaton and we the appreciative audience. We are, in fact, part of it.

The writers Murray has selected for the 1999 edition of his annual masterwork all view nature from the inside. The make us feel we are there, sharing moments with them. What else could be better than that?