Earth Works

In the hands of award-winning writer Scott Russell Sanders, the essay becomes an inquisitive, versatile, and revelatory form of art. Sanders uses the essay as a means to examine his life -- his Midwestern background, his father's drinking, his resistance to war, his literary debts, and his feeling for wildness -- and to address such common human questions as What is a good life? How do family and culture shape a person's character? What is our place in nature? In other essays, Sanders tackles hot-button issues such as the destabilization of Earth's climate, the environmental degradation of the planet, the unchecked growth of technology, the mystique of money, and the dangers of globalization. Readers and writers alike will find wisdom and inspiration in Sanders's luminous and thought-provoking prose.

Scott Russell Sanders, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana University Bloomington, is author of 20 books of fiction and nonfiction, including A Private History of Awe, Writing from the Center (IUP, 1995), and A Conservationist Manifesto (IUP, 2009). Among his honors are the Lannan Literary Award, the John Burroughs Essay Award, and the Mark Twain Award.