Blue Mountains Far Away: Journeys Into the American Wilderness

In his new collection of 13 eclectic and enjoyable essays, nature writer McNamee (A Desert Bestiary, etc.) offers up the minutiae of life in the American wild to make a passionate case for its preservation. Whether he is giving instructions on how to avoid being struck by lightning or mourning the state of the Southwest's once vibrant rivers, McNamee is always aware of the fragile and violent relationship between human culture and the wilderness. In open and direct prose, he rages against shortsighted land development, commercial culture and an attitude that places humans at the center of the world. Instead, he posits a responsible, humble relationship between humans and the relatively pristine lands that remain. In ""Growing Up Nuclear,"" he describes a Cold War childhood lived in fear of nuclear holocaust: ""the culture of the Bomb deprived me and my agemates for years of a vision of the future."" Yet he transcends such experiences to embrace hope and the challenge to keep the world's natural wonders intact, not for our pleasure, but for their own unmistakable value. As he explains, ""We need not run with the wolves or dance with the bears to content ourselves with the notion that there are properly worlds that are not ours to comprehend."" (June)