An Unspoken Hunger

by Terry Tempest Williams

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101912430
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/18/2015
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	322,641
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Terry Tempest Williams is the award-winning author of fifteen books, including Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, Finding Beauty in a Broken World, When Women Were Birds, and, most recently, The Hour of Land. Her work has been widely anthologized around the world. She lives in Castle Valley, Utah, with her husband, Brooke Williams.

Editorial Reviews

Naturalist Williams's collection of essays mixes environmental activism, a passion for the landscape of her native Utah and a special concern with the role of women in the environmental cause. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Williams, trenchant chronicler of the American West and author of seven previous books, has produced a work of passionate essays. As naturalist-in-residence at the Utah Museum of Natural History, she demonstrates her love affair with the earth and her fondness for family and friends in brief but compelling writings. Using her book as a vehicle for her convictions, Williams stands out as an urgent voice calling humanity to renew its relationship with the natural world. Williams also serves as narrator in this audio edition, and her lilting voice captures well the nuances of her elegant prose. Williams's pieces speak of the sensual delights of swimming in a hidden gorge, the erotic beauty of Yellowstone Park, and the despair she feels at witnessing the decay of the Pelham Bay Park wetlands in New York. Highly recommended for natural history collections.-Gretchen Browne, Rockville Centre P.L., N.Y.

Library Journal

Williams brings a spare and poetic language to these essays, which include personal portraits of friends and family members. Williams, both naturalist and writer, has roots in Mormonism, and her wide-ranging concerns span the ecology and conservation movements. She wastes no words in linking the natural world with spiritual realms, whether reflecting on memories of her disabled uncle or facing a history of cancer among family members. Hers is an expressive voice that brings a passionate reasoning to contemplative observations, and if mysterious places in nature can sweeten life for all of us, then Williams is a fitting guide to these most private places.

Alice Joyce