Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert by Terry Tempest WilliamsMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
"Love is a powerful tool, and maybe, just maybe, before the last little town is corrupted and the last of the unroaded and undeveloped wildness is given over to dreams of profit, maybe it will be love, finally, love for the land for its own sake and for what it holds of beauty and joy and spiritual redemption that will make [wilderness] not a battlefield but a revelation."
-Environmental writer and historian T.H. Watkins
This quote reproduced in the book captures the essence of what the author is seeking to do: summon reverence and a spiritual need for the wilderness lands she seeks to have federally protected in the Four Corners area of the American West, particularly her home state of Utah. For me, she succeeds best quoting other visionary environmentalists, details the unique and fragile ecologies, and even brings in her personal history which connects to even the Romney clan part of the Mormons expelled from Mexico.
She loses me in New Age-y depictions of the starkly beautiful lands and Anasazi traces. Also, she describes in details landmarks, pieces of art, and artifacts but the book has no illustrations outside the jacket cover.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment