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The New Desert Reader
The New Desert Reader brings together a historical cross section of writing about the American Southwest in selections that demonstrate how thinking about American deserts has changed from the earliest times to the present day. Beginning with the centuries-old legends of the Tohono O’Odham Indians, it moves through the foresighted observations of John Wesley Powell, one-armed explorer of the Grand Canyon; continues with the delicate appreciations of Mary Austin and Joseph Wood Krutch; includes examples of the keen activist writings of Wallace Stegner and Edward Abbey; and finishes with such contemporary desert writers as Tony Hillerman and others.
A slow change in outlook dominates the book, as attitudes shift from viewing the desert as a place to be despised or exploited to an appreciation of it as a special place, an arena of highly complex natural communities, and a wild refuge for the human body and soul. Comprehensive and brightly informative, The New Desert Reader will be invaluable to anyone interested in the history, literature, and beauty of North America’s treasured desert places.
A slow change in outlook dominates the book, as attitudes shift from viewing the desert as a place to be despised or exploited to an appreciation of it as a special place, an arena of highly complex natural communities, and a wild refuge for the human body and soul. Comprehensive and brightly informative, The New Desert Reader will be invaluable to anyone interested in the history, literature, and beauty of North America’s treasured desert places.
- GenresHistoryNatureNonfiction
336 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 2006
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 8, 2023
“In our ever more crowded world, what the pioneers once despised has turned out to be, by virtue of the very fact that it was shunned and therefore lightly settled, our last refuge for quiet and contemplation. So it is that deserts are refuges not by choice but by default, as if driven out of cathedrals we were forced to hold services on beds of nails. But on the positive side, what are cathedrals anyway but monuments to the old comfortable cliches, the old, often unworkable ways? If “the Desert is where God is and man is not,” as Balzac tells us, what better place to find, if not God, then ourselves? And if finding ourselves in scarcity rather than in plenty, what better place to learn to get along with others in a resource-poor but humanly rich world?”
November 10, 2023
Some great essays with great ideas (along with ones with extractivist ideas for historical context) and editor has some good insights, but definitely needed to center more that the Southwest desert is Native land. The editor is a conservationist, but still falls into extractivist ideas and often frames land in terms of what it can do for humans or the US.
February 17, 2022
Very nice survey of desert writers
March 21, 2016
Sadly, I found this book toward the end of a road trip that took me through the Desert Southwest of the USA. I wish I had this amazing anthology at my side for my jaunts into Death Valley, the Mojave Desert, Zion, and the Empty Quarter of west Arizona.
The editor, Peter Wild, was the perfect choice to provide introductions to the essays found in these pages. He begins his examination of the desert-ness of the American landscape, chronologically with the legends and lore of the Native Americans before taking us on a harrowing journey alongside Cabeza de Vaca and others. Included in this book are writings from the obvious like Edward Abbey to the lesser known western writers like Mary Austin. I discovered many names in reading this book that will enhance my understanding of the arid regions of this awesome landscape.
Don't carry this book along on the trails and dirt roads to learn the names of the cactus you just brushed against, or the name of that bird that just sang at the sundown. Instead, you will find reflections on what the desert landscape has meant to so many people and you will possibly gain a deeper understanding of how special and delicate the waterless landscape really is.
If you plan on visiting Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, California or Utah, this book should be by your side.
Highly recommended.
The editor, Peter Wild, was the perfect choice to provide introductions to the essays found in these pages. He begins his examination of the desert-ness of the American landscape, chronologically with the legends and lore of the Native Americans before taking us on a harrowing journey alongside Cabeza de Vaca and others. Included in this book are writings from the obvious like Edward Abbey to the lesser known western writers like Mary Austin. I discovered many names in reading this book that will enhance my understanding of the arid regions of this awesome landscape.
Don't carry this book along on the trails and dirt roads to learn the names of the cactus you just brushed against, or the name of that bird that just sang at the sundown. Instead, you will find reflections on what the desert landscape has meant to so many people and you will possibly gain a deeper understanding of how special and delicate the waterless landscape really is.
If you plan on visiting Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, California or Utah, this book should be by your side.
Highly recommended.
November 16, 2012
My wife picked up this book the last time we were in Zion NP. She said it seemed like the type of book I would enjoy. It's amazing how well someone can know you.
In the New Desert Reader, Peter Wild has chosen prolific writings from select periods of time, including ancient legends, early explorations, settlement throughout the 1800s, the dust bowl, conservation movements, and even writings from modern times.
The writings themselves provide excellent insight into ways of life and general attitude towards the desert at the time and Wild does a fantastic job setting the scene for each piece of work. Between his introductions and the writers own works, one really gets a feeling for what life was like when the writer was alive. It should be noted that Wild has a clear and unabashed agenda, bestowing the virtues of conservation and demanding nothing less than respect for the desert.
In the New Desert Reader, Peter Wild has chosen prolific writings from select periods of time, including ancient legends, early explorations, settlement throughout the 1800s, the dust bowl, conservation movements, and even writings from modern times.
The writings themselves provide excellent insight into ways of life and general attitude towards the desert at the time and Wild does a fantastic job setting the scene for each piece of work. Between his introductions and the writers own works, one really gets a feeling for what life was like when the writer was alive. It should be noted that Wild has a clear and unabashed agenda, bestowing the virtues of conservation and demanding nothing less than respect for the desert.
August 31, 2015
An anthology consisting of short excerpts or writers with the western deserts as their subject. Arranged chronologically from the early Spanish explorers to contemporary writers.
Wild provides extensive biographical and critical chapter introductions: I would have preferred less of Wilder and more of the literary artists. But this should give the reader a brief introduction to writers worth pursuing in more depth.
Wild provides extensive biographical and critical chapter introductions: I would have preferred less of Wilder and more of the literary artists. But this should give the reader a brief introduction to writers worth pursuing in more depth.
March 26, 2009
Peter Wild just died, so now this book is destined to fly off the shelves! No, this is actually a pretty decent introduction to southwest literature. I can admit that, even if Wild's class should have gone a LOT deeper into the writing than simply reading these clean litle excerpts that follow Wild's literary criticism.
November 19, 2015
I felt my insides longing for a desert, but more the notion of the history of the desert coming for my insides, a romantic spirit but one rattlingly sobering and realizing as well.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews