In this Book
- Earth Works: Selected Essays
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: Indiana University Press
In the hands of award-winning writer Scott Russell Sanders, the essay becomes an inquisitive and revelatory form of art. In 30 of his finest essays—nine never before collected—Sanders examines his Midwestern background, his father's drinking, his opposition to war, his literary inheritance, and his feeling for wildness. He also tackles such vital issues as the disruption of Earth's climate, the impact of technology, the mystique of money, the ideology of consumerism, and the meaning of sustainability. Throughout, he asks perennial questions: What is a good life? How do family and culture shape a person's character? How should we treat one another and the Earth? What is our role in the cosmos? Readers and writers alike will find wisdom and inspiration in Sanders's luminous and thought-provoking prose.
Table of Contents
- The Singular First Person
- pp. 1-11
- At Play in the Paradise of Bombs
- pp. 12-25
- The Men We Carry in Our Minds
- pp. 26-30
- Doing Time in the Thirteenth Chair
- pp. 31-48
- The Inheritance of Tools
- pp. 49-55
- Under the Influence
- pp. 56-68
- Looking at Women
- pp. 69-80
- Reasons of the Body
- pp. 81-92
- After the Flood
- pp. 93-100
- House and Home
- pp. 101-111
- Staying Put
- pp. 112-127
- Letter to a Reader
- pp. 141-155
- The Common Life
- pp. 162-177
- Mountain Music
- pp. 192-203
- The Force of Spirit
- pp. 235-245
- The Uses of Muscle
- pp. 246-252
- A Private History of Awe
- pp. 253-263
- A Road into Chaos and Old Night
- pp. 264-271
- Words Addressed to Our Condition Exactly
- pp. 272-283
- Honoring the Ordinary
- pp. 284-295
- Speaking for the Land
- pp. 296-309
- The Mystique of Money
- pp. 310-322
- Buffalo Eddy
- pp. 323-332
- Mind in the Forest
- pp. 333-343
- Notes and Acknowledgments
- pp. 345-355