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    The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks
    The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks
    The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks

    Written by Terry Tempest Williams

    Narrated by Terry Williams

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    For years, America's national parks have provided public breathing spaces in a world in which such spaces are steadily disappearing, which is why close to 300 million people visit the parks each year. Now, to honor the centennial of the National Park Service, Terry Tempest Williams, the author of the beloved memoir When Women Were Birds, returns with The Hour of Land, a literary celebration of our national parks, what they mean to us, and what we mean to them.



    Through twelve carefully chosen parks, from Yellowstone in Wyoming to Acadia in Maine to Big Bend in Texas, Tempest Williams creates a series of lyrical portraits that illuminate the unique grandeur of each place while delving into what it means to shape a landscape with its own evolutionary history into something of our own making. Part memoir, part natural history, and part social critique, The Hour of Land is a meditation and manifesto on why wild lands matter to the soul of America. Our national parks stand at the intersection of humanity and wildness, and there's no one better than Tempest Williams to guide us there.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 7, 2016
    ISBN9781515974215
    The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks
    Author

    Terry Tempest Williams

    Terry Tempest Williams is the award-winning author of The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks; Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place; Finding Beauty in a Broken World; and When Women Were Birds, among other books. Her work is widely taught and anthologized around the world. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she is currently the Writer-in-Residence at the Harvard Divinity School and divides her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts and Castle Valley, Utah.

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    Reviews for The Hour of Land

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    • 5/5
      I stumble across Tery Tempest Williams when reading Crossing to Safety by Wallace Steger. She had written the introduction to this story and I enjoyed her writing and decided that I need to read more of it. In my search I found this book; it interested as it appeared to be about our national parks.

      The book was, in its own way about the parks; however, it had as much to do about the parks as Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire had to do with arches. I suddenly came to the realization that she was a prodigy of Cactus Ed with less sharp edges and had a lot in common with Ellen Meloy but with out the snarkiness. The writting is beautiful and reminds of Anne Dilliard's Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek. This is definitely not a book for everyone.
      So what is the book about? It is in many ways a lament about what we have lost. There is not any wilderness left and the natural areas that we are trying to conserve are rapidly being destroyed by commercialism and/or bad government policies. She does not offer any real solutions to these problems.
      The book is complex and there are times that she hits her readers with a sledge hammer, especially when it comes to the way native peoples were treated. My suggestion is to tighten ones belt and go on a wild ride.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful writing about the natural world - our national parks are treasures.
      Interesting history throughout about various parks also.
    • 4/5
      I'm a person who really enjoys nature writing. The Hour of Land is about national parks and national historic sites, but it's not just waxing poetic about trees. I'm unfamiliar with Williams so I was unprepared for how very political this book is. Her views happen to align with mine as she talks about oil spills, reliance on fossil fuels, the states rights vs slavery context in which we frame Gettysburg, etc. I'd really like to read more by her!
    • 5/5
      This book is lovely, and thought provoking. I didn't feel it was as strong as [Refuge], but still a very insightful personal exploration. And a strong call for better environmental protections, and protection of our National Parks.

      She really gets at the fact that the division between nature and human is a false division. Here is a favorite quote:
      “Desert strategies are useful: In times of drought, pull your resources inward; when water is scarce, find moisture in seeds; to stay strong and supple, send a taproot down deep; run when required, hide when necessary; when hot go underground; do not fear darkness, it's where one comes alive.”
    • 5/5
      “This is what we can promise the future: a legacy of care. That we will be good stewards and not take too much or give back too little, that we will recognize wild nature for what it is, in all its magnificent and complex history - an unfathomable wealth that should be consciously saved, not ruthlessly spent.”

      “My spiritual life is found inside the heart of the wild.”

      In celebration of the centennial of the national park service, Terry Tempest Williams offers us a tribute, as she visits twelve different parks. She is a naturalist, an activist, a conservationist and one helluva writer. Her prose hums with strength, beauty and passion, as she takes the reader on a tour of her favorite American treasures, from Wyoming, to Maine, to Alaska and Texas. Her segment on Gettysburg will bring tears to your eyes and her visit to the Gulf, to witness the Deep Horizon oil spill, will make you see red.
      This is my first book, by this author and I think I found a new favorite. I listened to this on audio and it is narrated by Williams. I can not imagine a professional voice actor, doing a better job.
    • 4/5
      A collection of essays with the backdrop of National Parks & Monuments. The subject of the essays varies from environmentalism, conservation, political activism, social justice, and love of the natural world. Many of the essays are informative, many are moving, some are disturbing, all are educational. Ms Williams is an excellent writer. I was first introduced to her as a "talking head" on Ken Burn's PBS series on America's National Parks. This is a must read for naturalists, lovers of our National Parks, and those passionate regarding conservation and environmentalism.
    • 5/5
      Terry Tempest Williams - writer, activist, conservationist, and all-around amazing human - writes about several national parks through the lens of her experiences with them. Whether she is talking about hiking with her father, the history of the national park system, the battle between the government and the native Americans for their land, finding kin on a small island, or experiencing a raging forest fire up close, Terry Tempest Williams uses her considerable gifts as a writer to instill a sense of majesty and urgency in the reader about these wonderful places. I will be re-reading this book many times in the years to come...especially as I travel to more national parks and monuments. This is a very important book for all those who love nature and the outdoors, and even more so for those who do not understand the magic of it.