The opalescent deserts of the American Southwest have become romantic icons in the public imagination through the words of writers, the images of artists and photographers, and the visual storytelling of filmmakers. In this spirited, personal, beautifully written book, Peter Wild explores the lives and works of sixteen writers whose words have shaped our visions of the opal desert.
Wild begins with Cabeza de Vaca, whose Relacion of his desert wanderings sent treasure-hungry Spaniards searching for cities of gold. He goes on to discuss the works of both widely read and...
The opalescent deserts of the American Southwest have become romantic icons in the public imagination through the words of writers, the images of a...
In this collection of letters, the authors critically examine the ecological principles and reality of the desert saint Van Dyke. The letters depict a privileged, patrician, and pampered member of the upper class, who saw most of the deserts from plush railroad cars and hotel rooms.
In this collection of letters, the authors critically examine the ecological principles and reality of the desert saint Van Dyke. The letters depict a...
Not just an exploration of our early Western European roots, these rich chronicles read as literature, first-person narratives of the greatest exploration adventures in historic times.
From the Platonic vision of Atlantis to Arthur s Avalon, pre-Columbus Europeans imagined fabulous lands to the west and after 1492, initial reports of a new world filled with golden El Dorados, warrior queens, and Fountains of Youth merely provided confirmation.
Although these dreams were soon tempered by reality, explorers continued to set off with expectation that shaped what they say, how they saw,...
Not just an exploration of our early Western European roots, these rich chronicles read as literature, first-person narratives of the greatest expl...
The early plans for Mount Rushmore called for blasting heroic likenesses of mountain men--Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, and John Colter---into the solid mountain granite of South Dakota. Readers of this colorful volume will see the heroics and the brutally rugged individualism that made these fur trappers candidates for legend and infamy.
The accounts of the mountain men are spun from the experiences of a nation moving westward: a trapper returns from the dead; hunters feast on buffalo intestines served on a dirty blanket; a missionary woman is astounded by the violence and vulgarity of the...
The early plans for Mount Rushmore called for blasting heroic likenesses of mountain men--Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, and John Colter---into the solid...
The New Desert Reader brings together a historical cross section of writing about the American Southwest in selections that demonstrate how thinking about American deserts has changed from the earliest times to the present day. Beginning with the centuries-old legends of the Tohono O'Odham Indians, it moves through the foresighted observations of John Wesley Powell, one-armed explorer of the Grand Canyon; continues with the delicate appreciations of Mary Austin and Joseph Wood Krutch; includes examples of the keen activist writings of Wallace Stegner and Edward Abbey; and finishes with such...
The New Desert Reader brings together a historical cross section of writing about the American Southwest in selections that demonstrate how thinking a...
Surveys the history and allure of Palm Springs, penetrating the tinsel of casinos and the placidity of gated golf communities to reveal the painful beauty of deserts and mountains under assault.
Surveys the history and allure of Palm Springs, penetrating the tinsel of casinos and the placidity of gated golf communities to reveal the painful be...
The early American West has been depicted in art as a land of harsh struggles, a place of heavenly miracles, and everything in between. "Different ""Travellers"," Different Eyes" records impressions of life on the nineteenth-and early twentieth-century American frontier by twenty-one artists better known for their paintings, sculptures, and photographs. Most but not all the selections come from journals or diaries kept during trips to the West. Thomas Moran, for instance, notes what others must have felt, that "the impression then made upon me by the stupendous and remarkable...
The early American West has been depicted in art as a land of harsh struggles, a place of heavenly miracles, and everything in between. "Different ""T...
For more than twenty-five years, the antimelodic "noise" of Sonic Youth has assaulted us, exhilarated us, inspired us. Why?
Katherine Dunn says it's because they operate in the foggy world between the real and the surreal. Mary Gaitskill says that Sonic Youth caught her, years ago, when she was falling. J. Robert Lennon says it's because Sonic Youth rip it apart. Emily Maguire was hooked because once she was in love with chaos.
Their sound is caustic, elemental, nihilistic--and quite unlike any other cult band ever to achieve rock godhood. In Noise, twenty-one great...
For more than twenty-five years, the antimelodic "noise" of Sonic Youth has assaulted us, exhilarated us, inspired us. Why?
As he did with Noise: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth, editor Peter Wild has pulled together an eclectic list of talented writers who take their cue from one of the world's best loved bands--The Smiths. Please is sure to please fans of The Smiths, Morrisey, and guitarist Johnny Marr--as well as contributors such as Nic Kelman, Willy Vlautin, and Catherine O'Flynn.
As he did with Noise: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth, editor Peter Wild has pulled together an eclectic list of talented writers who take th...
