Nature Writing
to Inspire and Console
Aldo Leopold's Shack
Abbey,
Edward (1927-1989).
Desert Solitare: A Season in the Wilderness, 1968, describes
the season Abbey spent as a ranger in Arches National Park in Utah.
Although he wrote much other nonfiction and fiction, this is considered
his best and most unified work, full of adventure, humor, and a strong
political and philosophical defense of the wilderness as wilderness.
Beston, Henry
(1888-1968).
Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod,
1928. Beston built a cabin at the end of Cape Cod and lived there alone
through one winter. His descriptions of his environment and experiences,
particularly the experience of solitude, are rich and atmospheric.
Burroughs, John
(1837-1921).
Wake-Robin, 1871. Burroughs' first published nature essay collection
of a body of work that would span 23 volumes. Also an influential poet
and critic, Burroughs brought literary style - he was a friend to and
influenced by Walt Whitman - to his closely observed nature studies.
Since 1921, the American Museum of Natural History has given an annual
medal in his name for nature writing. Wake Robin shows his characteristic
method of imparting a direct experience of nature through concrete observation.
Carson, Rachel (1907-1964).
The Sea Around Us, 1951. A beautifully written comprehensive
study of all aspects of the sea - its geologic history, ecology, effect
on the rest of the earth and its inhabitants - that won the Burroughs
Medal and National Book Award.
Cooper, Susan
Fenimore (1813-1894).
Rural Hours, 1850. The book is a close observation of the cycles
of nature and life during the course of one year in the rural area around
Cooperstown, NY by the daughter of James Fenimore Cooper and the first
American woman nature writer.
Dillard, Annie
(1945- ).
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 1974, won the Pulitzer Prize and is
based on four seasons that Dillard experienced on nature walks. She
combines effectively spiritual autobiography, minutely observed nature
studies, transcendentalism, and theology.
Douglas, Marjorie
Stoneman (1890-1998).
The Everglades: River of Grass, 1947. An environmental activist
as well as nature writer, Stoneman brought to national attention the
importance of the Everglades as a unique and threatened ecosystem at
a time when it was considered just wasted space. She was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993.
Ehrlich, Gretel
(1946- )
The Solace of Open Spaces, 1985, is a collection of essays on
Ehrlich's experiences working on a Wyoming ranch and recovering from
the death of her lover. A poet as well as nature writer, she evokes
the beauty and restorative power of the wide open landscape and the
community of humans drawn to it.
Grange, Wallace
(1905-1987)
Those of the Forest, a fictionalized account of life in the wild
by a Wisconsin pioneer in the science of game management and a friend
and neighbor of Aldo Leopold.
Hoagland, Edward
(1932- ).
Walking the Dead Diamond River, 1973, nominated for the National
Book Award, displays Hoagland's non-linear, highly personal style. A
continuing theme is the relationship between the human and the natural
worlds.
Hoover, Helen
(1910-1984)
The Gift of Deer, 1966, the story of the author's relationship
with a family of deer over the course of several years, woven together
with accounts of life in the Minnesota northwoods, where she and her
husband came to settle, abandoning professional careers in Chicago.
Hubbell, Sue
(1935- )
A Book of Bees: ...and How to Keep Them, 1988, goes beyond a
how-to manual to a compendium of bee lore, scientific information on
entomology, and poetic yet unsentimental reflections on the joys of
country living.
Kappel-Smith,
Diana (1951- ).
Wintering, 1984, is a collection of essays and pencil drawings
on the abundance of life, including at the microscopic level, in the
so-called dead of winter on the author's sheep farm in northern Vermont.
Kappel-Smith is a trained biologist as well as artist, so the essays
are an eloquent blend of poetry and science.
Krutch, Joseph
Wood (1863-1970).
The Desert Year, 1952, won of the Burroughs Medal. In it, Krutch
describes his first year in the Arizona desert - he was on sabbatical
from Columbia University - when he fell in love with it and decided
to change careers and move there.
Leopold, Aldo
(1886-1948).
A Sand County Almanac, 1949, winner of the Burroughs Medal, is
a collection of beautifully written essays, including close observations
of natural life and rhythms as seen from his shack in central Wisconsin
(now an historic site) and musings on the interconnectedness of all
life forms and the need for reform in people's relationship to the land,
his "land ethic." It provides the philosophical basis for
the environmental movement.
Linbergh, Anne
Morrow (1907-2001)
Gift From the Sea, 1955. Meditations on youth and age; love and
marriage; peace, solitude and contentment inspired by a sojourn at the
seaside.
Lopez, Barry
(1945-
Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape, 1986,
a natural history and meditation on the effect of landscape on personal
spiritual growth, won the National Book Award.
Matthiessen,
Peter (1927- )
Sand Rivers, 1981, winner of the Burroughs Medal, describes Matthiessen's
visit to a Tanzanian game reserve to observe the unique wildlife of
Africa before it disappears.
Momaday, N. Scott
(1934- ).
The Way to Rainy Mountain, 1969. Momaday recreates the migration
of his Kiowa ancestors across the Northern Great Plains. His observations
are infused with a sense of the sacredness of the natural world he travels
through, what he sees as a Native American sensibility different from
that of modern Western civilization.
Mowat, Farley
(1921- )
Never Cry Wolf, 1963. Based on years of studying wolf behavior
in the Canadian wilderness, this is an eloquent defense of the animal
which has had a significant impact on attitudes and policies.
Muir, John (1838-1914)
My First Summer in the Sierra, 1911. Considered Muir's classic
work, it is an ecstatic diary of his wanderings in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains of California in 1869. Although he considered himself primarily
an adventurer and conservationist and found writing difficult, his style,
robust and deeply spiritual, evoking a sense of being at home in the
wilderness, struck a chord with readers and inspired the movement to
preserve these areas as national parks.
Nelson, Richard
(1941- ).
The Island Within, 1989. An autobiographical account of a hunter's
year on an island off the coast of Alaska, it won the Burroughs Medal.
Subsistance hunting, as he learned it from Native Americans, is depicted
as the sacred communion between predator and prey, the means by which
the author becomes a part of the island.
Olson, Sigurd
(1899-1982)
Wilderness Days, 1972, won the Burroughs Medal. It includes selections
from his previous works plus new material , all describing what he knew
best, the northwoods country bordering Lake Superior. An environmental
activist as well as writer, Olson advocated for the preservation of
wilderness as places of spiritual renewal for humans.
Teale, Edwin
Way (1899-1980)
Near Horizons: The Story of an Insect Garden,1942, an account
of his exploration of the insect world inhabiting a small plot of land
he had rented on Long Island, won the Burroughs Medal. He saw it as
a microcosm of the larger human world, with the behavior of insects
providing lessons for humans. Teale is credited with popularizing nature
writing, especially for children.
Thoreau, Henry
David (1817-1862)
Walden, or a Life in the Woods, 1854. The basis for all subsequent
American nature writing, this idealized account of his life in a cabin
on Walden Pond combines meticulous nature studies with a philosophy
of simple living and communing with nature.
Williams, Terry
Tempest (1955- )
Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, 1991, is a
memoir by an eco-feminist of her mother's death from cancer, probably
as a result of nuclear testing in Nevada, and the destruction of a migratory
bird refuge from the rise of the Great Salt Lake. Sadness and rage is
combined with a love of nature and family.
Zwinger, Ann
(1925 - )
Run, River, Run: A Naturalist's Journey Down One of the Great Rivers
of the West, 1975, won the Burroughs Medal and portrays the natural
and human history of the Green River of Wyoming and Utah using her own
adventures and detailed observations plus insights from previous explorers
and inhabitants.
Helene Androski for Wisconsin Library Association Readers Section
Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians Conference 2006
handroski@library.wisc.edu
Image © www.uc.wisc.edu/.../images/leopold_shack.jpg
Photo: courtesy The Aldo Leopold Foundation.
