The Nature of Desert Nature

The writings in this collection echo, each in their own ways, the surprising declaration made by contributor Paul Mirocha in 'Staring at the Walls,' an essay on Southern Arizona public art: ‘The desert is succulent—it’s downright juicy out there.’—Kristine Morris, Foreward Reviews

‘This book is a celebration, an exploration, an accumulation of voices swept up together in a circle of wind, a deployment of all the senses, including the ones you might have forgotten you had. It is magic, science, memory, miracle. If the desert had a seed, a genetic capsule of itself, it would be this book. And you, reader, are the rain that falls, bringing it to life.’—Craig Childs, author of Virga Bone: Essays from Dry Places
 
‘It’s about time. Who better to tackle the nature of desert, in its fullness, than Gary Nabhan and these contributors. As a desert musician who loves music that credits landscape and place, this book is my textbook for understanding the nature of what moves me to music.’—Hal Cannon, author of Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering

‘Mary Austin, Wallace Stegner, Edward Abbey, Gary Nabhan—the sonorous voices of Arid America. None more knowledgeable than Nabhan, who here leads a choir of voices in a desert chorale.’—J. Baird Callicott, author of Greek Natural Philosophy: The Presocratics and Their Importance for Environmental Philosophy

‘We’ve been slow to warm to deserts as places worth learning and caring about. This original and probing little book, led by one of the pioneers in our understanding of desert ecology and culture, should lay to rest the notion that there isn’t much to see (or feel) in these lands of little rain. A bracing and deeply thoughtful collection that should appeal to desert rationalists and romantics everywhere.’—Ben A. Minteer, author of The Fall of the Wild: Extinction, De-Extinction, and the Ethics of Conservation