Earth Works: Selected Essays

by Scott Russell Sanders

In the hands of award-winning writer Scott Russell Sanders, the essay becomes an inquisitive and revelatory form of art. In 30 of his finest essays―nine never before collected―Sanders examines his Midwestern background, his father's drinking, his opposition to war, his literary inheritance, and his feeling for wildness. He also tackles such vital issues as the disruption of Earth's climate, the impact of technology, the mystique of money, the ideology of consumerism, and the meaning of sustainability. Throughout, he asks perennial What is a good life? How do family and culture shape a person's character? How should we treat one another and the Earth? What is our role in the cosmos? Readers and writers alike will find wisdom and inspiration in Sanders's luminous and thought-provoking prose.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Nature

376 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2012

About the author

Scott Russell Sanders is the award-winning author of A Private History of Awe, Hunting for Hope, A Conservationist Manifesto, Dancing in Dreamtime, and two dozen other books of fiction, personal narrative, and essays. His father came from a family of cotton farmers in Mississippi, his mother from an immigrant doctor’s family in Chicago. He spent his early childhood in Tennessee and his school years in Ohio, Rhode Island, and Cambridge, England.

In his writing he is concerned with our place in nature, the practice of community, and the search for a spiritual path. He and his wife, Ruth, a biochemist, have reared two children in their hometown of Bloomington, in the hardwood hill country of southern Indiana. You can visit Scott at www.scottrussellsanders.com.

In August 2020, Counterpoint Press will publish his new collection of essays, The Way of Imagination, a reflection on healing and renewal in a time of climate disruption. He is currently at work on a collection of short stories inspired by photographs.

Reviews

[Jonathan Hiskes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nobody writes about eternal questions of meaning and purpose as lucidly as Sanders, an heir to Wendell Berry's seat as philosopher-king of the Ohio River valley. In these forays, Sanders trains his fiercely curious mind on the wild world, the moral crises of 21st century America, and his modest life in the southern Indiana hill country. If you're new to Sanders, I'd start with Private History of Awe, Force of Spirit, or Hunting for Hope, but this collection draws well from the breadth of his career.

[Kenny Chaffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ran across Scott Russell Sanders haphazardly referenced in another book and in various anthologies. "Buckeye" in In Short was the first essay of his I took note of. He is an excellent writer. His writing is almost deceptively simple and with some incredible metaphors and turns of phrase. I can't help but feel he is somewhat underrated and underrepresented in the literature.

Highly recommended.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine collection of Scott Russell Sanders' essays, many of which appeared elsewhere before this collection, some of which are new to the volume. Sanders is one of my favorite voices about place and community and the wonders of ordinary life. He carries on with these themes, and a pair of fine essays on writing and why he writes what he does. Terrific.

[tonia peckover · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a pained bewilderment at the heart of Sanders' writing. I'm a decent man, he seems to say, I've tried to love, to listen, to be more than what I am...so why this ache? The why is there, laced into the stories of his father, and a community which he feels lost to, the slow destruction of the world around us. It's as if his head comprehends it, but his heart just goes on wondering, needing to worry at it. The result of his questions and explorations is a moving and beautiful collection of essays.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first half of this book deserved more than five stars for its beautiful, evocative writing, but that's the maximum I can give it. It balances out, however, as I didn't like the second half nearly as well. When the author writes about his childhood in Northeast Ohio, there is a poignancy and a poetry to his words that the later essays lack. I will, perhaps, look for more of his earlier work.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course, my favorite essay was the one that mentioned the Jesus Barn on 44 near 135.

Still hoping to hear this author speak someday.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m very glad I read these essays. They are thoughtful reflections on life in this world. They give a glimpse of a courtroom and the peoples in it (jury, lawyers, defendants, witnesses) that reveals a lot about human nature (and raises some good questions about it) as well as raising thoughtful questions on the legal system. There are meditations on family, history, the earth and the world. It’s beautifully and thoughtfully written. I felt like I got a bigger picture of his life in this world through this collection. Excellent.

[Caela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essays about the world and how human life interacts with it on an everyday basis. Sanders is one of my favorite essayists in his ability to take a small human moment and describe it with honesty and beauty. At times he gets a little too preachy with the environmentalism for me, but his prose is so beautiful, I forgive him.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of thirty essays offers a view of Sanders' career. In sure-worded prose, he considers our responsibilities to places, to the Earth, and to each other.