Discusses the lives and works of 52 early American nature writers.
Daniel Patterson is Associate Professor of English and Coordinator of Graduate Studies in English at Central Michigan University. His previous books include Reading the Earth: New Directions in the Study of Literature and Environment (1998), Susan Fenimore Cooper: New Essays on Rural Hours and Other Works (2001), an edition of Susan Fenimore Cooper's Rural Hours (1998), Essays on Nature and Landscape by Susan Fenimore Cooper (2002), and Edward Taylor's Gods Determinations and Preparatory Meditations: A Critical Edition (2003).
This work offers substantial entries on 52 writers, ranging from
the literary to the scientific. . . . Although this volume probably
will be most useful for undergraduates, especially those at
institutions with strong American literature or nature writing
programs, graduate students and faculty also will find it helpful.
Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through
faculty/researchers; general readers.
*Choice*
The short biographies of this wonderfully eclectic group of writers
offer enticing reasons to read their notable works and follow the
paths of the references to learn more about them. Nature
observation and writing have never been as important as they are
now in a world under climate and ecological threat. These early
writers can teach us much, especially the importance of writing and
speaking well about important topics. Highly recommended for all
libraries.
*Reference Reviews*
Along with luminaries such as John James Audubon, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis and Henry David Thoreau
this collection of essays includes information on fiction and
nonfiction writers who may not be well-studied today, but were very
influential in describing young America to America. The 53 entries
include descriptions of birders, adventure writers, authors of
juvenile fiction, nature guides, botanists, and even the occasional
committed hunter, each of whom, in his or her own way, wished to
make readers understand that the lush beauty of America was a
treasure meant to be cherished rather than consumed.
*SciTech Book News*
Authors included range from the famous…to the mostly forgotten.
While entries on the former will be useful to undergraduates and
general readers beginning a study of environmental literature,
entries on the latter are often the most valuable, calling
attention to obscure authors who are worth reviving. Early American
Nature Writers is thus a boon to graduate students in search of
fresh subjects for theses and dissertations.
*ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment*
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