This Incomparable Land: A Guide to American Nature Writing [Paperback]

Thomas J. Lyon (Author)

Book Description

Series: The World As Home | Publication Date: August 5, 2001

Nature writing is essential to awakening an ecological way of seeing. The author covers the full spectrum of the genre, including field guides, travel and adventure stories, and essays on solitary and back-country living. This new edition contains an updated bibliography of primary and secondary sources in nature writing through the end of the 20th century.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Lyons (Great & Peculiar Beauty: A Utah Reader) reflects on the 12 years since the first edition of this guide to note the growth and maturation of the field of nature writing. While this edition does not include the anthology presented in the first edition, it retains the taxonomy and the annotated bibliography, which form the bulk of the text, as well as a chronology of our nation's treatment of the environment. The bibliography spans the 19th and 20th centuries; the annotations guide one to the scientific content and the flavor of the titles. Also included is a beautifully written essay on the taxonomy some might call it a history of nature writing. Unfortunately, there are no illustrations, which would only have added to the book's appeal. Any public or academic library without the first edition should own the second. Robert Moore, Parexel Corp., Waltham, MA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Nature writing has flourished in America, steadily extending its scope in direct proportion to the complexity of the environmental issues that arise as technology magnifies our species' effect on the planet. A form of communion with the natural world and expression of the "ecological way of seeing," that is, the perception of pattern and interconnection that makes life on earth possible, nature writing combines science and philosophy, romanticism and spirituality, ethics and autobiography. Lyon covers it all in his succinct yet specific and enlightening survey, offering a unique and revealing naturalist's chronology of American history, a taxonomy of nature writing that identifies an array of subgenres from field guides to "rambles" and accounts of "solitude and back country living," and a vital discussion of the evolution of environmental thought. He also profiles a number of key writers, from Thomas Jefferson to Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, and Terry Tempest Williams, and provides a comprehensive, annotated bibliography. Given the surge in nature writing courses and publishing, Lyon's expert analysis is timely and invaluable. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Milkweed Editions; Revised edition (August 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571312560
• ISBN-13: 978-1571312563
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #372,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A history of the genre of nature writing, February 7, 2002

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Incomparable Land: A Guide to American Nature Writing (Paperback)

American nature writing has always attracted and supported strong writers from travelers to literary types. This Incomparable Land provides a history of the genre of nature writing, revising a 1988 book to provide a history of the genre and its changing forms. This takes the form of a blend of overview accompanied by an extensive bibliography of selected and recommended nature writings.