Writer-poet William L. Fox has spent much of his career
contemplating the complex ways that landscape, human cognition, and
history collide to create our perceptions and treatment of place.
In Playa Works, Fox considers the West's emptiest spaces -- the
playas, or dry beds, of the ancient lakes that once filled much of
the Great Basin. Among the flattest, most barren places on the
planet, the West's playas have haunted the American imagination
since the Fremont expedition first surveyed them in the early
nineteenth century.
In these eight brilliant essays, Fox explores many of the major
playas of the American West, examining locations as diverse as
Nellis Air Force Base and Frenchman Flat, where the federal
government has tested experimental aircraft and atomic weaponry;
the Great Salt Lake Desert, where landspeed records have been
broken; and the Black Rock Desert of Northern Nevada, site of the
colorful Burning Man arts festival. He analyzes the geological and
climatological conditions that created the playas and the
historical role that playas played in the exploration and
settlement of the West. And he offers lucid and keenly perceptive
discussions of the ways that artists have responded to the playas,
from the ancient makers of geoglyphs to the work of contemporary
artists who have found inspiration in these enigmatic spaces,
including earthworks builder Michael Heizer, photographer Richard
Misrach, and painter Michael Moore. The ensemble is a compelling
combination of natural history, philosophy, and art criticism, a
thoughtful meditation on humankind's aversion to and fascination
with the void.
In Playa Works, Fox's passion for the American West combines
with his scholar'scuriosity and power of analysis to produce one of
the most engaging discussions yet of the natural phenomena that we
call playas. This is nature writing at its best -- provocative,
profound, richly intelligent, and delightfully adventurous.
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