A careful and meticulous study of the Western Theme in Science Fiction Literature. I.O. Evans Studies in the Philosophy and Criticism of Literature, Vol. 1

In this brilliant, gracefully written, and important new book, former Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Arizona Bruce Babbitt brings fresh thought--and fresh air--to questions of how we can build a future we want to live in. We've all experienced America's changing natural landscape as the integrity of our forests, seacoasts, and river valleys succumbs to strip malls, new roads, and subdivisions. Too often, we assume that when land is developed it is forever lost to the natural world--or hope that a patchwork of local conservation strategies can somehow hold up against further large-scale development. In Cities in the Wilderness, Bruce Babbitt makes the case for why we need a national vision of land use. We may have a space program, he points out, but here at home we don't have an open-space policy that can balance the needs for human settlement and community with those for preservation of the natural world upon which life depends. Yet such a balance, the author demonstrates, is as remarkably achievable as it is necessary. This is no call for developing a new federal bureaucracy; Babbitt shows instead how much can be--and has been--done by making thoughtful and beneficial use of laws and institutions already in place. A hallmark of the book is the author's ability to match imaginative vision with practical understanding. Babbitt draws on his extensive experience to take us behind the scenes negotiating the Florida Everglades restoration project, the largest ever authorized by Congress. In California, we discover how the Endangered Species Act, still one of the most effective laws governing land use, has been employed to restore regional habitat. In the Midwest, we see how new World Trade Organization regulations might be used to help restore Iowa's farmlands and rivers. As a key architect of many environmental success stories, Babbitt reveals how broad restoration projects have thrived through federal- state partnership and how their principles can be extended to other parts of the country. Whether writing of land use as reflected in the Gettysburg battlefield, the movie Chinatown, or in presidential political strategy, Babbitt gives us fresh insight. In this inspiring and informative book, Babbitt sets his lens to panoramic--and offers a vision of land use as grand as the country's natural heritage.

Blending numerous heritages, wisdoms, and teachings, this powerfully wrought book encourages people to take charge of their lives, heal themselves, and grow. Movingly rendered, The Book of the Vision Quest is for all who long for renewal and personal transformation. In this revised edition—with two new chapters and added tales from vision questers—Steven Foster recounts his experiences guiding contemporary seekers. He recreates an ancient rite of passage—that of “dying,” “passing through,” and “being reborn”—known as a vision quest. A sacred ceremony that culminates in a three-day, three-night fast, alone, in a place of natural power, the vision quest is a mystical, practical, and intensely personal journey of self-knowledge.

"Clyde Butcher is one of America's best-known nature photographers, and here in this ancient river of grass, which is being poisoned by the runoff from farms and choked by Florida's spiraling population, he is trying to show what America will lose if it loses the Everglades."--ABC News.com "I want to show people that there is a unity between all undisturbed natural places, whether the peak of a renowned mountain range, or a stream-bed in an urban watershed. My hope is to educate and inspire . . . to let people know our land is a special place, and the way we take care of it determines the future qualify of life for our society."--Clyde Butcher Clyde Butcher's compelling black-and-white photographs chronicle some of America's most beautiful and complex ecosystems. For more than 30 years, he has been preserving the untouched landscape on film, and for 20 of those years he has concentrated on Florida. This collection combines work from the 1980s and 1990s, ranging from the forests of the Pacific Northwest, to the rocky country of Utah and Colorado, to the woodlands of the Chesapeake region and the wetlands of Florida. Clyde's images are captured with an 8" X 10", 11" X 14", or 12" X 20" view camera. The large-format camera allows him to express in elaborate detail the textures that distinguish the exquisite beauty of the landscape. Clyde Butcher has recently been honored by the State of Florida with the highest award that can be given to a private citizen, the Artists Hall of Fame Award, for his photographic excellence. He has also received the Conservation Colleague Award from The Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Conservation Award, given for excellence in photography and contributions to the public awareness of the environment.

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Are you facing adversity, testing and trials? Heavenly answers for the weary heart. Wendy Alec, prophet and seer, recounts a series of extraordinary, supernatural encounters with the Father, following a season of deep, personal trauma.

A stunning combination of landscape photography and thematic essays exploring how the concept of wilderness has evolved over time Our ideas of wilderness have evolved dramatically over the past one hundred and fifty years, from a view of wild country as an inviolable “place apart” to one that exists only within the matrix of human activity. This shift in understanding has provoked complicated questions about the importance of the wild in American environmentalism, as well as new aesthetic expectations as we reframe the wilderness as (to some degree) a human creation. Wild Visions is distinctive in its union of landscape photography and environmental thought, a merging of short, thematic essays with a striking visual narrative. Often, the wild is viewed in binary terms: either revered as sacred and ecologically pure or dismissed as spoiled by human activities. This book portrays wilderness instead as an evolving gamut of understandings, a collage of views and ideas that is still in process.