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American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide
Organized as a field guide, a literary anthology filled with classic and contemporary poems and essays inspired by wildflowers—perfect for writers, artists, and botanists alike.
“The collection as a whole reminds us how lucky we are to share the world with this variety of shape and color, and to open our eyes to what grows on the side of the highway, between cracks in the sidewalk, along the riverbank.” — Boston Globe
Winner of a 2023 American Horticultural Society Book Award
American A Literary Field Guide collects poems, essays, and letters from the 1700s to the present that focus on wildflowers and their place in our culture and in the natural world. Editor Susan Barba has curated a selection of plants and texts that celebrate There are foreign-born writers writing about American plants and American writers on non-native plants. There are rural writers with deep regional knowledge and urban writers who are intimately acquainted with the nature in their neighborhoods. There are female writers, Black writers, gay writers, Indigenous writers. There are botanists like William Bartram, George Washington Carver, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, and horticultural writers like Neltje Blanchan and Eleanor Perényi. There are prose pieces by Aldo Leopold, Lydia Davis, and Aimee Nezhukumatathil. And most of all, there are from Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams and T. S. Eliot to Allen Ginsberg and Robert Creeley, Lucille Clifton and Louise Glück, Natalie Diaz and Jericho Brown.
The book includes exquisite watercolors by National Book Critics Circle Award-winner Leanne Shapton throughout and is organized by species and botanical family—think of it as a field guide to the literary imagination.
“The collection as a whole reminds us how lucky we are to share the world with this variety of shape and color, and to open our eyes to what grows on the side of the highway, between cracks in the sidewalk, along the riverbank.” — Boston Globe
Winner of a 2023 American Horticultural Society Book Award
American A Literary Field Guide collects poems, essays, and letters from the 1700s to the present that focus on wildflowers and their place in our culture and in the natural world. Editor Susan Barba has curated a selection of plants and texts that celebrate There are foreign-born writers writing about American plants and American writers on non-native plants. There are rural writers with deep regional knowledge and urban writers who are intimately acquainted with the nature in their neighborhoods. There are female writers, Black writers, gay writers, Indigenous writers. There are botanists like William Bartram, George Washington Carver, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, and horticultural writers like Neltje Blanchan and Eleanor Perényi. There are prose pieces by Aldo Leopold, Lydia Davis, and Aimee Nezhukumatathil. And most of all, there are from Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams and T. S. Eliot to Allen Ginsberg and Robert Creeley, Lucille Clifton and Louise Glück, Natalie Diaz and Jericho Brown.
The book includes exquisite watercolors by National Book Critics Circle Award-winner Leanne Shapton throughout and is organized by species and botanical family—think of it as a field guide to the literary imagination.
340 pages, Hardcover
Published November 8, 2022
51 people are currently reading
536 people want to read
About the author
Susan Barba
7 books8 followersSusan Barba is the author of the poetry collections GEODE (2020) and FAIR SUN (2017), which was awarded the Anahid Literary Prize from Columbia University. Her poems have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, The New York Review of Books, Poetry, Raritan, and elsewhere, and her poetry has been translated into German, Armenian, and Romanian. She earned her doctorate in comparative literature from Harvard University, and she has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. She works as a senior editor for New York Review Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
March 19, 2023
I like the concept but I didn't care for a lot of the selections included.
March 29, 2023
Loved this book!! Was sad it ended :( would recommend 10000% and I definitely want to start reading more poetry now
May 7, 2023
This was a really lovely collection of poetry and essays about different American Wildflowers, organized by flower and accompanied with watercolor illustrations. I read it slowly over several weeks and enjoyed it immensely! It's given me a new, deeper appreciation for the wildflowers all around us.
Thanks so much to Susan Barba and Abrams for this ARC through NetGalley. American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide is available now!
Thanks so much to Susan Barba and Abrams for this ARC through NetGalley. American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide is available now!
January 9, 2023
I loved the concept of this book, and while there were a few excerpts I could not get through (sorry William Bartram!) the vast majority of the book was a great selection of poetry and prose. I picked up this book because of the title and illustrations, and expected to be introduced to new poets and authors, but what really surprised me in the best way was reading the introduction. I had no idea that the editor was from the same area as me! Reading about how she grew up visiting the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown before music lessons reminded me of all the times I spent there with my family as a child, or when I took my boyfriend there for the first time a couple years ago. My reasons for enjoying this book as much as I did were not all sentimental or aesthetic - I have a list of 16 poets/authors I want to read more. This really was an enjoyable collection!
July 30, 2023
The paintings in this book are beautiful, but I didn’t love too many of the writing pieces. Not sure what I expected, but this misses the mark.
July 10, 2024
Lovely collection of visual & verbal art of the states.
May 4, 2025
Sad to say I really didn’t care for like any of the poems🤷♀️
May 26, 2023
3.5 stars, bumped up to 4 because it’s just so beautiful. I really enjoyed many of the selections, especially the science-y articles and a few of the poems.
(For me, 3 stars means I liked it and 4 means I really liked it.)
(For me, 3 stars means I liked it and 4 means I really liked it.)
May 4, 2023
**3.5 Stars**
Absolutely stunning book with insanely beautiful watercolor illustrations of American wildflowers. I just thought some of the literary selections could have been better. Most were rather obscure, didn't seem to go very well with the illustrations, and were generally random.
Absolutely stunning book with insanely beautiful watercolor illustrations of American wildflowers. I just thought some of the literary selections could have been better. Most were rather obscure, didn't seem to go very well with the illustrations, and were generally random.
August 27, 2022
First thing, this book is beautiful. The cover, the contents and the images all work together to create a work of art.
Susan Barba curated a selection of plants and texts that celebrate the diversity that is both America and the nature that inhabits it. This collection has foreign-born writers writing about American plants and American writers on non-native plants.
There are rural writers, urban writers, female writers, Black writers, gay writers and indigenous writers. There are botanists like William Bartram, George Washington Carver, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, and horticultural writers like Neltje Blanchan and Eleanor Perényi. There are poems from Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams and T. S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg and Robert Creeley.
At the start of every section, there are BEAUTIFUL watercolors by Leanne Shapton. I was excited to continue reading on to see what the next print would look like and I was never disappointed. Each print embodies the feeling you get when looking at wildflowers in nature.
Overall, this collection has a wide variety of types of texts and that might work for most people but I was really looking forward to the poetry aspect. There were a couple of essays that I felt dragged on for the topic and meandered their way to the point. While I understand the original author's intent, it did seem to stunt the flow of the collection and created some incongruencies among the rest of the beautifully curated collection.
My favorites were:
1. Work by Yusef Komunyakka
2. what woman by Deborah Diggs
3. The Steeple-Jack by Marianne Moore
4. What Beauty Does by Patricia Spears Jones
5. The Water Hyacinth by James Merrill and more.
Final Thoughts: If you love wildflowers and the natural world, you will love this book. It has a wide variety of topics and keeps you interested and would make a great gift.
Thank you Netgalley and Abrams for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Susan Barba curated a selection of plants and texts that celebrate the diversity that is both America and the nature that inhabits it. This collection has foreign-born writers writing about American plants and American writers on non-native plants.
There are rural writers, urban writers, female writers, Black writers, gay writers and indigenous writers. There are botanists like William Bartram, George Washington Carver, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, and horticultural writers like Neltje Blanchan and Eleanor Perényi. There are poems from Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams and T. S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg and Robert Creeley.
At the start of every section, there are BEAUTIFUL watercolors by Leanne Shapton. I was excited to continue reading on to see what the next print would look like and I was never disappointed. Each print embodies the feeling you get when looking at wildflowers in nature.
Overall, this collection has a wide variety of types of texts and that might work for most people but I was really looking forward to the poetry aspect. There were a couple of essays that I felt dragged on for the topic and meandered their way to the point. While I understand the original author's intent, it did seem to stunt the flow of the collection and created some incongruencies among the rest of the beautifully curated collection.
My favorites were:
1. Work by Yusef Komunyakka
2. what woman by Deborah Diggs
3. The Steeple-Jack by Marianne Moore
4. What Beauty Does by Patricia Spears Jones
5. The Water Hyacinth by James Merrill and more.
Final Thoughts: If you love wildflowers and the natural world, you will love this book. It has a wide variety of topics and keeps you interested and would make a great gift.
Thank you Netgalley and Abrams for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 16, 2023
This is a nice book; I liked it but I didn't love it. As the title states, it is a field guide, but not so in the traditional sense. It is filled with poetry, essays, and prose pieces, some letters, each having to do with an American wildflower aka a flowering native plant. A huge and diverse variety of authors is included, contemporary and historical, with watercolor painting accompaniment. The paintings are quite different than I had expected. They are meant to imply pressed flowers that you might want to save in a poetry book but are detail free. Each one is loosely drawn with hard edges, then filled with flowing paint, wet paint on wet paper. They do look flat. Without the labels, one would find it hard to identify the sample. They are the opposite of botanical painting. Now, this is not a criticism, just an observation.
I did not read every selection, but I read at least three quarters of them, the ones that interested me. There are names I know, and more that I don't. I must admit that I found an outsized number of the poems to be on the sorrowful side, but I did love George Washington Carver's contribution during WWII about the many types of weeds that are edible, in case the US population ran out of green vegetables. He included tantalizing cooking and serving tips!
The most interesting part of this large volume, for me, was the author Susan Barba's introduction where she explains the conception of and evolution of her book. Her heart is very much in it.
I did not read every selection, but I read at least three quarters of them, the ones that interested me. There are names I know, and more that I don't. I must admit that I found an outsized number of the poems to be on the sorrowful side, but I did love George Washington Carver's contribution during WWII about the many types of weeds that are edible, in case the US population ran out of green vegetables. He included tantalizing cooking and serving tips!
The most interesting part of this large volume, for me, was the author Susan Barba's introduction where she explains the conception of and evolution of her book. Her heart is very much in it.
July 6, 2022
American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide, edited by Susan Barba and illustrated by Leanne Shapton, is an attractive collection of literary works that reference wildflowers and accompanying artwork of those flowers.
Before getting this book I had two distinct ideas of what I would be getting. One was the book with a lot of pictures and the periodic stanza or paragraph from a work. I would have been happy with that as long as the pictures were good, but those books are less about the "literary" and more about the illustrations. The other, which this volume falls into, is the book that contains poems and longer prose excerpts with illustrations still plentiful but used to highlight the writing. This is my preference, so I was very happy.
The literary pieces are varied in both style and time, and the artwork is very nice. I like that the art is less about a detailed look at the wildflowers and more about the feel of them. Since poetry, including poetic prose, is more about what things say to us than about specifically what they are, I think the style works wonderfully.
I would recommend this to anyone who loves literature and also loves the images, both real and in our minds, that good literature creates. Bringing them together around specific references to wildflowers is fun.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
Before getting this book I had two distinct ideas of what I would be getting. One was the book with a lot of pictures and the periodic stanza or paragraph from a work. I would have been happy with that as long as the pictures were good, but those books are less about the "literary" and more about the illustrations. The other, which this volume falls into, is the book that contains poems and longer prose excerpts with illustrations still plentiful but used to highlight the writing. This is my preference, so I was very happy.
The literary pieces are varied in both style and time, and the artwork is very nice. I like that the art is less about a detailed look at the wildflowers and more about the feel of them. Since poetry, including poetic prose, is more about what things say to us than about specifically what they are, I think the style works wonderfully.
I would recommend this to anyone who loves literature and also loves the images, both real and in our minds, that good literature creates. Bringing them together around specific references to wildflowers is fun.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
November 8, 2022
This book has been on my Amazon pre-order list for a few months now. I was so delighted to have a chance to get a sneak peek before my physical copy arrives! Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
This collection of poetry, prose, and American wildflower facts, accompanied by Leanne Shapton's beautiful watercolors, is just lovely. A "coffee table" book that you actually want to read, that I know I will look at again and again.
I was originally drawn to this book because I'm interested in nature poetry and watercolor. I was happy to find such a great mix of new and established voices in the writing and vivid illustration, but reading Susan Barba's introduction and Leanne Shapton's notes on the inspiration for the illustrations helped me to fully understand and appreciate the beauty and purpose of her book. I was underlining something on almost every page - a reference to return to, a quote that made me feel something - and it was just the introduction!
I added bookmarks to my favorite pieces in my digital copy and know I will revisit many of them again. I look forward to reading more of some of these authors and poets after finding them here in American Wildflowers.
Shapton's illustrations are gorgeous and I love the concept of painting pressed flowers - it somehow made this literary field guide feel more intimate and special to me. They must be even more beautiful on the page and I am excited to discover them again when my book arrives. I'd be hard-pressed to find a favorite among them.
This collection of poetry, prose, and American wildflower facts, accompanied by Leanne Shapton's beautiful watercolors, is just lovely. A "coffee table" book that you actually want to read, that I know I will look at again and again.
I was originally drawn to this book because I'm interested in nature poetry and watercolor. I was happy to find such a great mix of new and established voices in the writing and vivid illustration, but reading Susan Barba's introduction and Leanne Shapton's notes on the inspiration for the illustrations helped me to fully understand and appreciate the beauty and purpose of her book. I was underlining something on almost every page - a reference to return to, a quote that made me feel something - and it was just the introduction!
I added bookmarks to my favorite pieces in my digital copy and know I will revisit many of them again. I look forward to reading more of some of these authors and poets after finding them here in American Wildflowers.
Shapton's illustrations are gorgeous and I love the concept of painting pressed flowers - it somehow made this literary field guide feel more intimate and special to me. They must be even more beautiful on the page and I am excited to discover them again when my book arrives. I'd be hard-pressed to find a favorite among them.
August 15, 2022
American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide would be the perfect book to read on a picnic, while exploring a botanical garden, or as a present for anyone who loves flowers. The book features a selection of literary poems, essays, and writings about wildflowers accompanied by artwork by Leanne Shapton. I can't speak for the layout of the book, as the digital e-ARC edition wasn't super compatible with my device to really get the whole picture, but I loved the contents. I'm biased towards watercolor artwork, especially involving flowers, and could see this being a great edition to any collection.
August 24, 2022
Anyone who knows (or is) a nature lover, here is the perfect gift! Edited by a poet, Ms. Barba has organized a wonderful and diverse collection of poetry and prose about American wildflowers. She also writes an excellent introduction. There are contributors who are alive, dead, white, black, indigenous,male, female, so all welcoming and inclusive. Biographies of the contributors may be found at the end of the book. The water color illustrations throughout this title are gorgeous and coexist perfectly with the text. All in all, a delightful, thoughtful book and one to savor.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Abrams for this title. All opinions are my own.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Abrams for this title. All opinions are my own.
September 29, 2022
This was a beautiful text that has a very specific audience. The watercolor images were gorgeous and the combination of poetry and literary works mixed with actual facts and information was delightful. I can see this going to a professional in the field of botany, a hobby gardener, or even a poetry lover. Emily Dickenson, Walt Whitman, Sandra Lim, and Jericho Brown. There were a few essays that I felt were quite lengthy but I am sure they were someone else's cup of tea. Overall I think this would make a wonderful gift or coffee table book. With an eclectic reference section they did not leave any stone unturned.
December 5, 2023
Really beautiful book, like a tasting menu of Wildflower literature, I could trace my favorite pieces out of this book and continue to explore them elsewhere. Only con, in my opinion, illustrations were beautiful, but being an out-of-touch city dweller without a base knowledge of american wildflowers, I often had to google what they looked like because the watercolors verged on just a little “too” vague, singular and only downside though. I thought the organization of the book by family was very interesting and it made me want to find a book that was organized by what order the wildflowers bloom in the year :)
July 15, 2022
This is a beautiful collection of poetry and short narratives that describe all things related to gardening, wildflowers, and plants. I especially loved the beautiful watercolor paintings of the different plants scattered throughout the book. Like with any anthology, there were some poems and narratives that I enjoyed more than others (particularly those about sunflowers and those about dandelions), but overall found this to be a very pleasant read!
Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams for the ARC for review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams for the ARC for review.
September 25, 2022
What a beautiful anthology for lovers of wildflowers and poetry alike! Divided up according to different species of American wildflower, delicate full-page illustrations done in watercolor by Leanne Shapton are paired with poems and prose excerpts celebrating a particular plant. Care has been shown to include writers from a range of eras and backgrounds. There's work here by Walt Whitman, Natalie Diaz, Allen Ginsberg, Leslie Marmon Silko, Jericho Brown, Sandra Lim, Emily Dickinson, and many, many more. It's wonderful volume to dip into and revisit as the mood or season strikes.
January 5, 2023
Amazing compilation showcasing authors, poets, botanists, and naturalists wildflower themed writing. The breadth of work included is impressive reflecting a massive undertaking and no doubt a labor of love.
A few wildflowers were unknown to me such as Pua Lehua. Official flower of Hawaii's Big Island and apparently the first to grow through cracks in solidified lava. Note to Self: Go to Hawaii.
Another wonderful discovery in this book is poet Natalie Diaz. A poem from her book Post Colonialism Love Poem (2021 Pulitzer Prize Winner Poetry) is sublime.
A few wildflowers were unknown to me such as Pua Lehua. Official flower of Hawaii's Big Island and apparently the first to grow through cracks in solidified lava. Note to Self: Go to Hawaii.
Another wonderful discovery in this book is poet Natalie Diaz. A poem from her book Post Colonialism Love Poem (2021 Pulitzer Prize Winner Poetry) is sublime.
April 12, 2023
Beauty of many kinds fills these pages. I tried dipping into this book when I'd otherwise be scrolling on my phone. I made both daughters read an essay by Robin Wall Kimmerer about holding on to what she knew while her university insisted she was simple-minded... only to be proven to have held a wiser, fuller understanding, decades later. I also loved a story about finding unique varieties of sunflowers.
I didn't read the whole book but what I did read was worthwhile. The illustrations added a glorious dimension.
I didn't read the whole book but what I did read was worthwhile. The illustrations added a glorious dimension.
August 19, 2023
DNF @ 30%.
Anthologies such as this are hard for me to read cover-to-cover because the tone and emotions of the individual pieces are so different. This collection is academic and intellectual in form and structure, without as a whole conveying much of the joy and wonder I associate with wildflowers. The art, which depicts pressed flowers instead of live ones, is pretty but feels removed and almost clinical. I would describe this as an herbarium instead of a field guide.
Anthologies such as this are hard for me to read cover-to-cover because the tone and emotions of the individual pieces are so different. This collection is academic and intellectual in form and structure, without as a whole conveying much of the joy and wonder I associate with wildflowers. The art, which depicts pressed flowers instead of live ones, is pretty but feels removed and almost clinical. I would describe this as an herbarium instead of a field guide.
July 26, 2025
A wonderful book!!! I originally was a little bit disappointed by the illustrations but they really tie together with the literary works here. Just as the literary works reference flowers through someone’s perception of them and the associations that come up, the illustrations are silhouettes of the actual plants seen through the perspective of Leanne Sharpton.
Also there was an essay that seemed to be cut off in the middle of a sentence though, which will bother me for the rest of my life..
Also there was an essay that seemed to be cut off in the middle of a sentence though, which will bother me for the rest of my life..
November 8, 2022
This is a gorgeous book. It's artful, contemplative, thoughtful, and soothing.
Let's start with the artwork in American Wildflowers. Leeanne Shapton's watercolors set the perfect tone for the book.
The collection of essays and poetry invite the reader to settle in, slow down, and breathe in the calming words. This book is meant for those who enjoy the nature side to our world.
Let's start with the artwork in American Wildflowers. Leeanne Shapton's watercolors set the perfect tone for the book.
The collection of essays and poetry invite the reader to settle in, slow down, and breathe in the calming words. This book is meant for those who enjoy the nature side to our world.
December 23, 2022
I inhaled the watercolors and skimmed the accompanying poetry and writings. Very artistic and I’d love to own this book just to savor again when the need for some beauty in life arises. Wide range of authors from Emily Dickinson to Lewis&Clark that were chosen for wildflower references, finishes with a great entreaty in the last chapter to leave wildflowers in their native habitats. Amazing.
May 13, 2023
Beautiful tending toward abstract illustrations of wildflowers interspersed with poetry from recognized poets and newer less known poets, essays contemporary and older and stories of people who love flowers and their environs. I enjoyed this book as Spring has finally arrived here and I wanted a book of beauty after reading two WWI books . A contemporary vision of wildflowers!!
September 18, 2023
A beautiful mixture of watercolor renderings of the wildflowers and writings, mostly poetry that mentions the flowers. Just one artist did the illustrations, but many authors, well known or little known were found to do the writing. One that was a surprise for me was Walt Whitman, whose poetry style is classic and I enjoyed it. More for artistic enjoyment rather than an actual guidebook.
July 20, 2022
Perfect for lovers of flowers and literature, this book combines the two into a beautiful book! The selections are wonderful, and the way that the editor paired them with the flowers was really cool. I also enjoyed getting to see all the information about the flowers included.
November 11, 2022
An all around beautiful book. A wonderful gift for anyone who loves nature and her wonders. Wildflowers are disappearing from the lives of so many people, let this book inspire you to seek them out and renew their presence in your life.
October 16, 2023
I took 4 months to read through a handful of pages a night. This book rewarded this slow route with beautiful watercolor illustrations and several poems that were unfamiliar to me, and that note I love. An elegant, lovely compilation. A perfect gift for a poetry lover or naturalist.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews