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Title details for The Hour of Land by Terry Tempest Williams - Wait list

The Hour of Land

A Personal Topography of America's National Parks

by Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Williams
Audiobook
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For years, America's national parks have provided public breathing spaces in a world in which such spaces are steadily disappearing, which is why close to 300 million people visit the parks each year. Now, to honor the centennial of the National Park Service, Terry Tempest Williams, the author of the beloved memoir When Women Were Birds, returns with The Hour of Land, a literary celebration of our national parks, what they mean to us, and what we mean to them.
Through twelve carefully chosen parks, from Yellowstone in Wyoming to Acadia in Maine to Big Bend in Texas, Tempest Williams creates a series of lyrical portraits that illuminate the unique grandeur of each place while delving into what it means to shape a landscape with its own evolutionary history into something of our own making. Part memoir, part natural history, and part social critique, The Hour of Land is a meditation and manifesto on why wild lands matter to the soul of America. Our national parks stand at the intersection of humanity and wildness, and there's no one better than Tempest Williams to guide us there.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 7, 2016

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781515924210
      • File size: 317773 KB
      • Duration: 11:02:01

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Terry Tempest Williams's clear voice and straightforward delivery make her remarkable collection of 13 personal essays sound intimate. In this reflective journey, the renowned environmental writer reveals her family history as she explores our nation's parks and monuments. Corresponding with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service, this audiobook takes the listener on vivid adventures that include barely escaping a raging wildfire in Glacier National Park, hearing the Gettysburg story from the Confederate point of view, and appreciating the Rockefeller family's massive land donations--from Maine's Acadia National Park to the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Williams's persuasive narration celebrates the value of preserving both wild and historic places while honoring this most American idea. A.M. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 25, 2016
      Williams (When Women Were Birds), a longtime environmental activist, adds a meditative element to memoir as she shares her abiding love for America’s open spaces. She grew up in Utah, home to five national parks and seven national monuments, and writes of places such as the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, Big Bend National Park in Texas, and Glacier National Park in Montana. Some parks are new to Williams, and others are deeply familiar: Williams’s great-grandfather introduced Grand Teton National Park to his son, who introduced it to his sons, who in turn introduced it to her. Chapters on Big Bend and the Gulf Coast give Williams opportunities to address political and environmental issues, particularly calls for a wall to separate the U.S. from Mexico. “The 118-mile border that Big Bend National Park shares with Mexico would be closed not only to humans,” but to the “movement and migration” of an array of species that “have no understanding of man-made borders,” she writes. Similarly, her discussion of the Gulf Islands National Seashore centers on BP and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In passionate and insightful prose, Williams celebrates the beauty of the American landscape while reinforcing the necessity of responsible stewardship. Illus. Agency: Brandt & Hochman Literary.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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