A reader on nature that presents substantial, complex readings within the context of American culture.
Assignment sequences have been provided to help readers learn to write on a single subject from a variety of
perspectives. The reading selections are organized chronologically and focus exclusively on the concept of nature
in America. Readers thus can see how nature has been viewed historically, from the time of the exploration of the
new world to the present day. A major section on the current environment movement allows readers to connect their
work with what is happening in the world right now.
Table of Contents
1. �New World� Encounters: Late Fifteenth to Early Nineteenth Century.
Christopher Columbus, from the Digest of Columbus's Log-Book on His First Voyage.
Bartolome de Las Casas, from The Devastation of the Indies.
Thomas Jefferson, from Notes on the State of Virginia.
J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, from Letters from an American Farmer.
William Bartram, from The Travels of William Bartram.
John James Audubon, from Audubon and His Journals.
William Cullen Bryant, "Sonnet� to an American Painter Departing for Europe", "The Yellow Violet"
2. Nature, Self, and Spirit: Mid and Late Nineteenth Century.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Nature.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, from The Scarlet Letter.
Henry David Thoreau, from Walden.
Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass.
Emily Dickinson, There's a Certain Slant of Light. The Brain is wider than the Sky.
Isabella L. Bird, from A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains.
Sarah Orne Jewett, The White Heron.
3. Contesting the Uses of Nature: Early and Middle Twentieth Century.
Theodore Roosevelt, Wilderness Reserves: Yellowstone Park.
Gifford Pinchot, from The Fight for Conservation.
John Burroughs, The Spell of Yosemite.
Aldo Leopold, The River of the Mother of God. The Land Ethic.
Rachel Carson, from Silent Spring.
4. Constructing Nature in Words: Recent Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction.
Jack Kerouac, Alone on a Mountaintop.
N. Scott Momaday, from The Way to Rainy Mountain.
Edward Abbey, from The Monkey Wrench Gang.
Norman Machlean, form A River Runs Through It.
Annie Dillard, Living Like Weasels.
Leslie Marmon Silko, Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination.
Gretel Ehrlich, This Autumn Morning.
Sandra Alcosser, Approaching August.
Dana Giola, Rough Country.
William Matthews, Names.
Mary Oliver, Sleeping in the Forest.
5. Responses to the Current Environmental Crisis.
Ernest Callenbach, from Ecotopia.
Al Gore, Environmentalism of the Spirit.
Paula Diperna, Truth vs. Facts.
Barry Lopez, Renegotiating the contracts.
John McPhee, from Encounters with the Archdruid.
Carolyn Merchant, The Global Ecological Crisis.
P.J. O'Rourke, The Green House Affect.
Michael Pollan, The Idea of a Garden.
Rik Scarce, Raid on Reykjavik.
Assignment Sequences.
Sequence One: The Intrinsic Value of Nature.
Sequence Two: Reflecting upon Individual Encounters with Nature.
Sequence Three: The Influence of Nature.
Sequence Four: Constructing Nature Locally.
Sequence Five: The Control Nature.
