Unearthing Paradise: Montana Writers in Defense of Greater Yellowstone ed. by Marc Beaudin, Seabring Davis, and Max Hjortsberg (review)

In 2015 Lucky Minerals, a multinational mining company, announced its intention to mine for gold on public land in Montana's Emigrant Gulch, near the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness; not long after, the Crevice Mining Group staked similar claims just north of Yellowstone National Park. Recognizing the long and often inglorious history of mining in Montana, environmentalists and business leaders organized to oppose the threats to the Yellowstone Valley. As Edwin Dobb writes in Unearthing Paradise, "there is no justification for locating large gold mines in proximity to such spectacular natural treasures, an irreplaceable legacy all of us hold in common" (9).

What you think about precious metal mining in the Greater Yellowstone will in large part determine what you think about Unearthing Paradise, a collection of short pieces—essays, fiction, poetry—with a "mission": "to advocate for, and support, effective protections from industrial-scale mining in the gateway to Yellowstone" (3). The writers are all local, in one sense or another; they have all "called the northern Yellowstone region home." The book exudes a convincing sense of community, and the volume's strength is its compelling combination of a shared connection to place and an indefatigable spirit of purpose. The vibe is often intimate, even familial, and many of the pieces are centered on stories of hiking, fishing, driving, and exploring the region. Occasionally playful, the contributors are invariably earnest in their defense of their homeland, writing "words crafted out of a love of place protected" (xi), as Terry Tempest Williams puts it in her foreword.

The book is centered on two central passions: an all-in love for the Yellowstone region and an all-out resistance to mining in the area. It is a topical book, "occasional," and it has the considerable charm of a writing workshop turned political rally, a kind of literary jam session. The book's energy is contagious; it was launched through a Kickstarter campaign and its vision is to continue its collective activism into the future. There is a festive quality, a celebration of a beloved region that retains its infectious appeal even when the writing turns outraged and angry.

Unearthing Paradise is a fine snapshot of environmental writing in the Rocky Mountain West and an inspiring call to action. What of the broader literary, artistic, aesthetic qualities of the book (this being a literature journal)? The writing, which often leans toward journalism or blogging in its style, is plainspoken and accessible; it is grounded and heartfelt but not frequently inclined to creative leaps or innovative moves. It is almost jarring to read Jim Harrison's prose poem, "Late Spring," which ends with a meditation on the peonies outside his Montana studio: "they droop to the ground and I think of my early love, Emily Bronte. The cruelty of our different ages kept us apart. I tie and prop up the peonies to prolong their lives, just as I would have nursed Emily so she could see another spring" (73). This may be the only moment in the collection that soars, unexpectedly and startlingly, away from Montana, across the ocean, across time, and toward an imagined ecosystem of literature and longing.

Moreover, as churlish as this may sound, the loose exuberance of the book produces, and sometimes obscures, some flaws. The editing is relaxed to a fault, with too many unforced errors; the writers' pride of place can border on smugness; and most of the pieces written by Montana's heavy hitters (including Harrison, Doug Peacock, and Rick Bass) were originally published elsewhere. More disconcerting is the introduction's invocation of the book's "many diverse voices" and "the amazingly diverse community of writers" in the area (3–4); frankly, it's hard to see much diversity in evidence here, by any definition of the word. Given the claim that the region is a "legacy all of us hold...