Voices of the Land (Hardcover)

~ Jamie Purinton (Editor), Charles Lindsay (Photographer), Michael Pollan (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A visual and written tribute, Voices of the Land brings together a diverse community who speaks out for greater stewardship of our landscape. The authors, whether ecologist, farmer, chef, mushroom gatherer, architect, or writer, share of their own unique relationships to the land. Together with evocative photographs that detail the intricacies of nature, Voices of the Land encourages homeowners to be responsive to the existing character and ecology of the land as it becomes a home. All royalties will go to land conservation and preservation efforts.

From the Publisher

If you’ve ever moved to a new place, you understand the power landscape has to spark a spectrum of emotion. From anxiety to excitement to serenity, our relationship with the land around us plays an integral role in our moods and our lives. Voices of the Land is a visual and written tribute to this relationship, bringing together a diverse community of people who speak out for greater stewardship of our landscape. Together with evocative photographs that detail the intricacies of nature, the essays in Voices of the Land encourage homeowners to respond to the existing character and ecology of the land as it becomes a home.

The eighteen writers in Voices of the Land are our neighbors. They are cooks, farmers, realtors, writers and architects. In essence, they are writing us letters about what it means to know a place; what it means to be stewards of the land. Through frank words and stunning photographs, these voices inspire us to think more deeply about how our actions affect the health and quality of our home ground.

A forest ecologist considers the role of his chainsaw in his backyard while a realtor wonders about the value of a hilltop site she is about to sell. Why clear a forest’s understory when it provides important habitat for birds and mammals? Why build on an exposed ridge when the house will be blown by cold winter winds? By questioning conventional approaches, they challenge presumptions about ‘developing’ land.

With a foreword by Michael Pollan (The Botany of Desire, Second Nature) and photographs by Charles Lindsay (Menawai Shaman, Upstream: Fly Fishing in the American Midwest), Voices of the Land is a stunning tribute to land conservation efforts and a wonderful introduction to the process of connecting to a place.

Voices of the Land was commissioned by the Dutchess Land Conservancy and royalties from the book will support land conservation efforts.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 84 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931498504
• ISBN-13: 978-1931498500
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #507,721 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous, reflective pieces abound, April 14, 2005

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

What does it mean to really know the land, or a wild space? The essays compiled and edited by Jamie Crelly Purinton for Voices Of The Land go well beyond commercial or economic values to consider the ecological and social meaning of land stewardship, from getting to know the underlying ecology of a projected building site to moving beyond concepts of land possession. Each individual chapter offers articles and reflections by builders, landowners, ecologists, students and others from different walks of life. Gorgeous, reflective pieces abound in Voices Of The Land from beginning to end.