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In Mossback, David Pritchett traverses geography, history, and
genealogy to explore landscapes and mythologies at the intersection
of environmental, indigenous, and social justice. This collection
of a dozen essays searches terrain—from the heart of a swamp to
the modern grid lines remaking our watersheds, to the tracks of the
animals who share this earth, to the inner landscapes of the
soul—to find glimpses of light in dark places and hope in painful
legacies. Pritchett recounts a trip to Dismal Swamp, where he takes
inspiration from the many enslaved people who found refuge there.
Another piece offers two ways of seeing the landscape: the
watershed as an ecological unit, and the grid as a colonial
construct. Still another weaves personal narrative with the story
of the Trail of Tears to describe how settler colonialism became an
apocalypse for indigenous nations and ecologies. Pritchett explores
an early apocalyptic story from the book of Daniel and considers
new ways of relating to the land and its inhabitants. He focuses on
the relationship between technology and trees to argue that humans
have largely discarded ecological interrelationship in favor of
extractive ways of living, and he travels the Ventura River,
reflecting on waterways as being endangered but still operating as
places of refuge for people and wildlife. The word “mossback”
has been used to describe rural southerners who lived in swampy
areas during colonial times and moved so slowly that moss grew on
their clothing. It is also used to describe fish and turtles who
show similar growth on their shells, Confederate deserters who
refused to fight and, after the war, southerners who fought against
the Ku Klux Klan. Pritchett reclaims the word to celebrate those
who move deliberately through the natural world, protecting the
land and the relations they depend on.
"You are a rare bird, easy to see but invisible just the same."
That thought is close at hand in Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds
and Lesser Beasts, as renowned naturalist and writer J. Drew Lanham
explores his obsession with birds and all things wild in a mixture
of poetry and prose. He questions vital assumptions taken for
granted by so many birdwatchers: can birding be an escape if the
birder is not in a safe place? Who is watching him as he watches
birds? With a refreshing balance of reverence and candor, Lanham
paints a unique portrait of the natural world: listening to
cicadas, tracking sandpipers, towhees, wrens, and cataloging fellow
birdwatchers at a conference where he is one of two black birders.
The resulting insights are as honest as they are illuminating.
"In me, there is the red of miry clay, the brown of spring floods,
the gold of ripening tobacco. All of these hues are me; I am, in
the deepest sense, colored." From these fertile soils of love,
land, identity, family, and race emerges The Home Place, a
big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist and professor of
ecology J. Drew Lanham. Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County,
South Carolina-a place "easy to pass by on the way somewhere
else"-has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place,
readers meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself,
who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural
world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins
to ask what it means to be "the rare bird, the oddity." By turns
angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a
remarkable meditation on nature and belonging, at once a deeply
moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of
black identity in the rural South-and in America today.
Lively, colorful, and skillfully made fabric "portraits" of 182
endangered species bring them to real, vibrant life. Each portrait
features fascinating animal and plant facts from rescuers,
scientists, conservationists, and more: where they live, what their
superpowers are, why they are at risk, and how we can help.
Dedicated and passionate people who work to protect endangered
species share details of their roles and specialties, the planning
behind conservation measures, threats to healthy habitats, and
inspiring success stories. This book fosters eco-awareness and
responsibility with a hopeful and positive tone, not only educating
but inspiring action. A percentage of money earned by the author
from the sale of this book will be donated to the Sea Turtle
Conservancy and to the WILD Foundation.
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