The acclaimed author of Refuge here weaves together a resonant and often rhapsodic manifesto on behalf of the landscapes she loves, combining the power of her observations in the field with her personal experience—as a woman, a Mormon, and a Westerner. Through the grace of her stories we come to see how a lack of intimacy with the natural world has initiated a lack of intimacy with each other.
Williams shadows lions on the Serengeti and spots night herons in the Bronx. She pays homage to the rogue spirits of Edward Abbey and Georgia O’Keeffe, contemplates the unfathomable wildness of bears, and directs us to a politics of place. The result is an utterly persuasive book—one that has the power to change the way we live upon the earth.
“An eloquent book, full of humor and drama, and—most important—Williams’s passion for saving the land she grew up in.” —Newsweek
“Full of stories that articulate the spiritual need to preserve wilderness. . . . Williams has made it her mission to translate her fierce love of [the West] into a literature of the desert.” —The Washington Post
“There are rich meditations [with] strength and power. . . . From an examination of women’s earliest mythic connections to the earth to the accounts of recent protests against nuclear testing, the idea of women as intermediary between earth and human conduct is interwoven throughout. . . . This is all good stuff, the kind of continuous exploration and adventure that makes a life into a pilgrimage.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Dazzling. . . . Only a few books in my life have made me feel grateful to the author, and An Unspoken Hunger is one of them.” —Maureen O’Neill, The Seattle Times
“Williams has influenced, cajoled, and delighted many, many readers with her compassion and transforming imagination. Like Virginia Woolf, she seems to live on the level of myth and symbol.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
The acclaimed author of Refuge here weaves together a resonant and often rhapsodic manifesto on behalf of the landscapes she loves, combining the power of her observations in the field with her personal experience—as a woman, a Mormon, and a Westerner. Through the grace of her stories we come to see how a lack of intimacy with the natural world has initiated a lack of intimacy with each other.
Williams shadows lions on the Serengeti and spots night herons in the Bronx. She pays homage to the rogue spirits of Edward Abbey and Georgia O’Keeffe, contemplates the unfathomable wildness of bears, and directs us to a politics of place. The result is an utterly persuasive book—one that has the power to change the way we live upon the earth.
Praise
“An eloquent book, full of humor and drama, and—most important—Williams’s passion for saving the land she grew up in.” —Newsweek
“Full of stories that articulate the spiritual need to preserve wilderness. . . . Williams has made it her mission to translate her fierce love of [the West] into a literature of the desert.” —The Washington Post
“There are rich meditations [with] strength and power. . . . From an examination of women’s earliest mythic connections to the earth to the accounts of recent protests against nuclear testing, the idea of women as intermediary between earth and human conduct is interwoven throughout. . . . This is all good stuff, the kind of continuous exploration and adventure that makes a life into a pilgrimage.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Dazzling. . . . Only a few books in my life have made me feel grateful to the author, and An Unspoken Hunger is one of them.” —Maureen O’Neill, The Seattle Times
“Williams has influenced, cajoled, and delighted many, many readers with her compassion and transforming imagination. Like Virginia Woolf, she seems to live on the level of myth and symbol.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
