Across the Land and the Water

Author: W.G. Sebald
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1588369560
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 203

Book Description
“A splendid addition to an already extraordinary oeuvre.”—Teju Cole, The New Yorker German-born W. G. Sebald is best known as the innovative author of Austerlitz, the prose classic of World War II culpability and conscience that put its author in the company of Nabokov, Calvino, and Borges. Now comes the first major collection of this literary master’s poems. Skillfully translated by Iain Galbraith, they range from pieces Sebald wrote as a student in the sixties to those completed right before his untimely death in 2001. In nearly one hundred poems—the majority published in English for the first time—Sebald explores his trademark themes, from nature and history, to wandering and wondering, to oblivion and memory. Soaring and searing, the poetry of W. G. Sebald is an indelible addition to his superb body of work, and this collection is bound to become a classic in its own right. “How fortunate we are to have this writer’s startling imagination freshly on display once again, expressed in language honed to a perfect simplicity.”—Billy Collins “A watershed volume . . . nothing less than transcendent.”—BookPage “[Sebald was] a defining writer of his era.”—The New Republic

The Dreamt Land

Author: Mark Arax
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1101875216
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 577

Book Description
A vivid, searching journey into California's capture of water and soil—the epic story of a people's defiance of nature and the wonders, and ruin, it has wrought Mark Arax is from a family of Central Valley farmers, a writer with deep ties to the land who has watched the battles over water intensify even as California lurches from drought to flood and back again. In The Dreamt Land, he travels the state to explore the one-of-a-kind distribution system, built in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, that is straining to keep up with California's relentless growth. The Dreamt Land weaves reportage, history and memoir to confront the "Golden State" myth in riveting fashion. No other chronicler of the West has so deeply delved into the empires of agriculture that drink so much of the water. The nation's biggest farmers—the nut king, grape king and citrus queen—tell their story here for the first time. Arax, the native son, is persistent and tough as he treks from desert to delta, mountain to valley. What he finds is hard earned, awe-inspiring, tragic and revelatory. In the end, his compassion for the land becomes an elegy to the dream that created California and now threatens to undo it.

Water in a Dry Land

Author: Margaret Somerville
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135098786
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
Water in a Dry Land is a story of research about water as a source of personal and cultural meaning. The site of this exploration is the iconic river system which forms the networks of natural and human landscapes of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. In the current geological era of human induced climate change, the desperate plight of the system of waterways has become an international phenomenon, a symbol of the unsustainable ways we relate to water globally. The Murray-Darling Basin extends west of the Great Dividing Range that separates the densely populated east coast of Australia from the sparsely populated inland. Aboriginal peoples continue to inhabit the waterways of the great artesian basin and pass on their cultural stories and practices of water, albeit in changing forms. A key question informing the book is: What can we learn about water from the oldest continuing culture inhabiting the world’s driest continent? In the process of responding to this question a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers formed to work together in a contact zone of cultural difference within an emergent arts-based ethnography. Photo essays of the artworks and their landscapes offer a visual accompaniment to the text on the Routledge Innovative Ethnography Series website, http://www.innovativeethnographies.net/. This book is perfect for courses in environmental sociology, environmental anthropology, and qualitative methods.

Scattered All Over the Earth

Author: Yoko Tawada
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 0811229297
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Book Description
A mind-expanding, cheerfully dystopian new novel by Yoko Tawada, winner of the 2022 National Book Award Welcome to the not-too-distant future: Japan, having vanished from the face of the earth, is now remembered as “the land of sushi.” Hiruko, its former citizen and a climate refugee herself, has a job teaching immigrant children in Denmark with her invented language Panska (Pan-Scandinavian): “homemade language. no country to stay in. three countries I experienced. insufficient space in brain. so made new language. homemade language.” As she searches for anyone who can still speak her mother tongue, Hiruko soon makes new friends. Her troupe travels to France, encountering an umami cooking competition; a dead whale; an ultra-nationalist named Breivik; unrequited love; Kakuzo robots; red herrings; uranium; an Andalusian matador. Episodic and mesmerizing scenes flash vividly along, and soon they’re all next off to Stockholm. With its intrepid band of companions, Scattered All Over the Earth (the first novel of a trilogy) may bring to mind Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or a surreal Wind in the Willows, but really is just another sui generis Yoko Tawada masterwork.

The Water Is Wide

Author: Pat Conroy
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
ISBN: 0553381571
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
A “miraculous” (Newsweek) human drama, based on a true story, from the renowned author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini The island is nearly deserted, haunting, beautiful. Across a slip of ocean lies South Carolina. But for the handful of families on Yamacraw Island, America is a world away. For years the people here lived proudly from the sea, but now its waters are not safe. Waste from industry threatens their very existence unless, somehow, they can learn a new way. But they will learn nothing without someone to teach them, and their school has no teacher—until one man gives a year of his life to the island and its people. Praise for The Water Is Wide “Miraculous . . . an experience of joy.”—Newsweek “A powerfully moving book . . . You will laugh, you will weep, you will be proud and you will rail . . . and you will learn to love the man.”—Charleston News and Courier “A hell of a good story.”—The New York Times “Few novelists write as well, and none as beautifully.”—Lexington Herald-Leader “[Pat] Conroy cuts through his experiences with a sharp edge of irony. . . . He brings emotion, writing talent and anger to his story.”—Baltimore Sun

A Land Made from Water

Author: Robert R. Crifasi
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
ISBN: 1607323826
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 564

Book Description
A Land Made from Water chronicles how the appropriation and development of water and riparian resources in Colorado changed the face of the Front Range—an area that was once a desert and is now an irrigated oasis suitable for the habitation and support of millions of people. This comprehensive history of human intervention in the Boulder Creek and Lefthand Creek valleys explores the complex interactions between environmental and historical factors to show how thoroughly the environment along the Front Range is a product of human influence. Author Robert Crifasi examines the events that took place in nineteenth-century Boulder County, Colorado, and set the stage for much of the water development that occurred throughout Colorado and the American West over the following century. Settlers planned and constructed ditches, irrigation systems, and reservoirs; initiated the seminal court decisions establishing the appropriation doctrine; and instigated war to wrest control of the region from the local Native American population. Additionally, Crifasi places these river valleys in the context of a continent-wide historical perspective. By examining the complex interaction of people and the environment over time, A Land Made from Water links contemporary issues facing Front Range water users to the historical evolution of the current water management system and demonstrates the critical role people have played in creating ecosystems that are often presented to the public as “natural” or “native.” It will appeal to students, scholars, professionals, and general readers interested in water history, water management, water law, environmental management, political ecology, or local natural history.

We Are Water Protectors

Author: Carole Lindstrom
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
ISBN: 1250780993
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 23

Book Description
Winner of the 2021 Caldecott Medal #1 New York Times Bestseller Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption—a bold and lyrical picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and vibrantly illustrated by Michaela Goade. Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all . . . When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth And poison her people’s water, one young water protector Takes a stand to defend Earth’s most sacred resource.

Crossing the Next Meridian

Author: Charles F. Wilkinson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Book Description
In Crossing the Next Meridian, Wilkinson explains to a general audience some of the core problems that face the American West, both now and in the years to come. An expert on federal public lands, Native American issues, and the West's arcane water laws, Wilkinson looks at the outmoded ideas that pervade land use and resource allocation. He argues that significant reform of Western law is needed to combat environmental decline and heal splintered communities. Interweaving legal history with examples of present-day consequences, both intended and unintended, Wilkinson traces the origins and development of Western laws and regulations. He relates stories of Westerners who face these issues on a day-to-day basis and discusses what can and should be done to bring government policies in line with the reality of twentieth-century American life. His examination seeks a middle ground between those who champion unrestricted growth and those who advocate complete preservation.

Flowing Over the Land and Water

Author: Michael Pealow
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1525593064
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 159

Book Description
We are living in a time characterized by violence in many forms, stemming from systems built upon mental models that need to be challenged. Flowing Over the Land and Water—a collection of poetic reflections—marks a threshold for anyone on a journey of decolonization. This book invites you into different ways of seeing, living, and being in relationships with yourself, others, and the world. Beginning with a playful exploration of the absurdities of life in a modern, colonial world, this collection of poetry is rendered in seven parts—States of Disconnect, Resistance, Release, Reflection, Relationship, Response, and Reciprocity. Blending poetry, systems thinking, and nature, Flowing Over the Land and Water will be of particular value to people interested in the decolonization of self and systems, to Northern Canadians, and to those who seek out beautiful, accessible poetry. Whether you’re an avid outdoors person who enjoys reading around a campfire; a student of systems-thinking theory and practice; interested in different ways of living and being; or embarking on a personal journey of decolonization; these thought-provoking pieces will offer a gateway to understanding and actualization.

Water, Land, and Law in the West

Author: Donald J. Pisani
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Book Description
The series presents an interdisciplinary approach to the use and misuse of resources in the American West. This volume comprises essays written between 1982 and 1994, and previously published in journals such as Western Historical Quarterly, J. of American History, and Environmental History Review). Pisani, one of the nation's leading environmental and Western historians, highlights the central role played by land, water, and timber allocation in the American West, and shows how efforts to achieve justice and efficiency were compromised by the region's obsession with achieving rapid economic growth. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR