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Hoagland on Nature: Essays
Edward Hoagland is not only one of the best writers of our time; he is also one of the keenest observers of nature and one of the most celebrated essayists. His subjects range from the natural history of owls to the delicious mystery of wolves ("Howling Back at the Wolves"); the demise of the red wolf ("Lament the Red Wolves"); our relationship with dogs ("Dogs, and the Tug of Life"); the nature of a bear-stalker ("Bears, Bears, Bears"); and the intricate workings of an old farm's ecosystem. Hoagland's exploration, from the boreal forests of Maine to the brawny Belize River, illuminates both the exotic and the wilds of our own backyards. Hoagland reports from the frontlines of life. He recounts fascinating detail with exacting prose. He's irascible, brilliant, probing, sharp-witted, and brutally honest about himself and the state of the natural world.
No one who admires John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, and Edward Abbey should miss this definitive collection. It will forever change the way you view the natural world.
No one who admires John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, and Edward Abbey should miss this definitive collection. It will forever change the way you view the natural world.
498 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2003
About the author
Edward Hoagland
80 books56 followersEdward Hoagland (born December 21, 1932, in New York, New York) is an author best known for his nature and travel writing. His non-fiction has been widely praised by writers such as John Updike, who called him "the best essayist of my generation."
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 10, 2024
Though I have been reading Edward Hoagland's essays for perhaps 40 years or so, it was such a joy to return to his work in this collection of essays on "animals, places and people." His sentences are long and complicated, but so well-crafted that the nuances of animals, places, and people come out fully. I often complain about lack of maps in books, but his descriptions of places are as intricate as a well-drawn map so I didn't feel like I was missing out in this book. He writes with an optimistic spirit and has an ability to accept the gray areas in life. A nice mix of essays, all of them excellent.
December 28, 2019
"PLACES" / Up the Black to Chalkyitsik (Alaska); In Okefenokee
Ted Hoagland's sensible rambling just sets me at ease. I want to go where he has been, both physically and spiritually.
Ted Hoagland's sensible rambling just sets me at ease. I want to go where he has been, both physically and spiritually.
September 9, 2022
fine natural history (and more) essays.
February 22, 2014
Favorite essay: Abbey's Road, about Edward Abbey, who died in 1989.
notes:
470--"a jubilant writer, a regular gleeman" (cf JM Kenyon)
--2 days before dying, he left the hospital, wishing to die in the desert, and at sunup had himself disconnected from the tubes & machinery.
421--wife never dropped a fallen friend
Came to him from the Writer's Almanac:
Born in New York City (1932). His first books were what he called "documentary novels," books like Cat Man (1956), which was based on what he had seen working as a lion keeper for a traveling circus, and The Circle Home (1960), about a washed-up boxer.
Hoagland refers to himself as peripatetic and happy when going about with Mississippi muskrat trappers or riding mules down the Rio Grande. So in the mid-1960s, he set out for British Columbia to ride the rivers, follow the trails, and talk with old-timers about the heyday of the homesteaders and prospectors. He began keeping a journal of his trip, which became the nonfiction book Notes from the Century Before (1969) and led him to writing essays instead of novels.
For Hoagland, the essay was a freer form than fiction, and he wrote on everything from tugboats and taxidermy to jury duty and suicide, to go-go dancers and the time he mailed his mutilated draft card to President Johnson. His first collection was The Courage of Turtles (1971), followed by Walking the Dead Diamond River(1973) and numerous others. His most recent book of essays isChildren Are Diamonds (2013), which was published earlier this year.
notes:
470--"a jubilant writer, a regular gleeman" (cf JM Kenyon)
--2 days before dying, he left the hospital, wishing to die in the desert, and at sunup had himself disconnected from the tubes & machinery.
421--wife never dropped a fallen friend
Came to him from the Writer's Almanac:
Born in New York City (1932). His first books were what he called "documentary novels," books like Cat Man (1956), which was based on what he had seen working as a lion keeper for a traveling circus, and The Circle Home (1960), about a washed-up boxer.
Hoagland refers to himself as peripatetic and happy when going about with Mississippi muskrat trappers or riding mules down the Rio Grande. So in the mid-1960s, he set out for British Columbia to ride the rivers, follow the trails, and talk with old-timers about the heyday of the homesteaders and prospectors. He began keeping a journal of his trip, which became the nonfiction book Notes from the Century Before (1969) and led him to writing essays instead of novels.
For Hoagland, the essay was a freer form than fiction, and he wrote on everything from tugboats and taxidermy to jury duty and suicide, to go-go dancers and the time he mailed his mutilated draft card to President Johnson. His first collection was The Courage of Turtles (1971), followed by Walking the Dead Diamond River(1973) and numerous others. His most recent book of essays isChildren Are Diamonds (2013), which was published earlier this year.
February 9, 2008
i only read some of the essays
October 18, 2014
This was good, and long, and good. One of my favorites was his essay on Job, “Behold Now Behemoth.” Not something I was expecting to find here, and a delight when I did.
August 2, 2014
Engaging and informative essays by one of the finest.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews