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The
Association for the Study of Literature and Environment's (ASLE)
List
of Twelve Classic Nature & Environment Books
The Association
for the Study of Literature and Environment is a professional organization
of scholars, teachers, writers, and other individuals fostering the creation,
appreciation, understanding,
and teaching of literature from environmental perspectives. Not long
ago, they came up with a list of twelve classic nature and environment
books. Here's their list:
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (1949)
What
can be said of Sand County Almanac? It is simply one of the great
works of nature literature and from it has sprung the environmental
movement. It was over 50 years ago
that the book was first published, but his words and insights are as
fresh as ever. Another
Review
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams (1994)
Refuge is a very different kind of nature writing. Williams
visits to Utah's Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge are counterpoised
against a far more personal theme: the slow death of her mother from
cancer.
Land of Little Rain
by
Mary Hunter Austin, 1903.
A series of poetic writings about the desert Southwestern
desert, including observations about the flora, fauna, towns and Native
American life.
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey (1968)
Edward
Abbey is the undisputed the voice of the remote canyonland country of southern
Utah and Northern Arizona. No book describes this
harsh landscape better and with more hard-nose poignancy than Desert Solitare. More Extensive
Review |
Ceremony by
Leslie Marmon Silko, 1977
This is a beautifully written, though complex,
stream-of-consciousness, novel about a young Indian who returns to his
New Mexico home after being imprisoned by Japanese during World War
II. Deeply scarred by his war experiences, he seeks refuge
on the reservation, but instead finds a world turned upside down with
his father and best friend now dead. Racked by hopeless and
despair, he eventually find his way by embracing his people's ancient
ceremonies.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1862)
In 1845, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great American essayist and
transcendentalist, gave Henry David Thoreau the use of a piece of
property that he owned along Walden Pond near Concord,
Massachusetts. On the Emerson property, Thoreau built a small
cabin, planning to use it as a quiet place to finish work on a book
that he was writing about a boat trip he and his brother had taken on
the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. But he had something else in
mind, an experiment of sorts. Having lived with Emerson, and
thoroughly steeped in transcendentalism, he wanted to see if he could
apply transcendental principles to his life along the pond, working one
day and spending the remaining six other days reading, contemplating
and developing his consciousness. His expeniences gradually
evolved into his most famous work Walden. See
More Extensive Review |
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (1978)
Annie Dillard's 20th century version of Walden: meditative, insightful, and edgy.
Practice of the Wild
by
Gary Snyder, 1990.
A series of contemplative and insightful essays on the concept of wildness, nature, humanity and humility.
Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her by
Susan Griffin, 1978.
Griffin's early work of ecofeminism uses the structure of an
epic poem to explore how male-dominated science, religion, and culture
has conspired to subjugate women and nature.
Arctic Dreams Barry Lopez (1986)
Barry Lopez (also the author of Of Wolves and Men) based this
book on his years of experience in the Arctic. The book is vast
in scope covering geography, weather, natural history, and
anthropology.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is clearly
one of the most important environmental books ever published. Using
scientific research and persuasive logic, Carson
warned of the consequences of careless use of pesticides.
The Solace of Open
Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich 1985.
Gretel finds solace and a new life in Wyoming after the death
of a friend, and in this small collection of essays, paints for us an
engaging portrait of the rural west and its people: ranchers,
sheepherders, cowboys, and Native Americans.
End
of Listing
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