The Hour of Land / Terry Tempest Williams - 3***

[Book Concierge]

The Hour of Land – Terry Tempest Williams
3***

Subtitle: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks

This is a book I would not have picked up were it not for being a book-club selection. I share the author’s love of this country’s National Parks, and of nature in general. I recently visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park for the first time, and was particularly interested in reading the chapter on that park. And, looking at the index, I noticed several other parks I was eager to read about: Big Bend, Arcadia, Gettysburg, Alcatraz Island and Cesar Chavez National Monument.

Williams is a good writer, and there are times when her descriptions take the reader straight to the park she is visiting. Some of these passages are downright poetic. However …

Williams spent less time on the park itself and its natural and/or historic wonders than she did on a political agenda, whether that be the mistreatment of Native Americans or the disturbing fervor of Civil War re-enactors (especially those portraying the Rebel forces) or, most often, the shameful policies of the then-current administration (G W Bush) with respect to mineral and drilling rights for big oil. I don’t even disagree with her point of view, but it wasn’t what I expected or wanted from this book. So I give it a middle-of-the-road 3-star rating.



LINK to my review

[Peacejanz]

I have not read this yet but I do enjoy Terry Tempest Williams writing, She loves nature so much and it flows throughout all of her work. Thanks for the review and for alerting me to the book. peace, janz