A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There

Aldo Leopold, Barbara Kingsolver

Book cover for A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There
Book cover for A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There

A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There

A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There

Aldo Leopold, Barbara Kingsolver

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Description

Few books have had a greater impact than A Sand County Almanac, which many credit with launching a revolution in land management. Written as a series of sketches based principally upon the flora and fauna in a rural part of Wisconsin, the book, originally published by Oxford in 1949, gathers informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; a final section addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation. Beloved for its description and evocation of the natural world, Leopold's book, which has sold well over 2 million copies, remains a foundational text in environmental science and a national treasure.

About the Author

Aldo Leopold, long a member of the National Wildlife Federation's Conservation Hall of Fame, was posthumously honored in 1978 with the John Burroughs Medal in tribute to a lifetime of work in conservation and, in particular, for A Sand County Almanac.

Critical Reviews

"Reborn for Earth Day 50, the 2020 edition includes an introduction by author and conservationist, Barbara Kingsolver. 'A land ethic, ' Leopold wrote, 'enlarges the boundaries of the community' to include not only humans, but also soils, waters, plants, and animals.' Leopold promoted values based on caring -- for people, for land, and for all the connections among them.'" -- Virginia Small, Shepherd Express

"For those who may not yet have read this remarkable work of twentieth-century American nature writing, the publication of this new edition of A Sand County Almanac is the perfect opportunity to remedy that oversight. And for those who already have, and perhaps have worn out their present copy from repeated readings, the release of this new edition offers a convenient (to justify...) opportunity to replace the older one." -- Johannes Riutta, The Well Read Naturalist

"These writings were and remain an ecological call to action in the face of a natural world under threat. This book is fundamentally a celebration of the human potential, when nurtured, to notice nature, and of the miraculous experiences possible for those who do. To anyone who has wondered at the natural world, or who cares about retaining the option, it is well worth reading." -- Gavin Charles, The Canadian Field Naturalist

"This edition gives a new generation of readers a chance to drink from the source of some of the best ecological thinking and writing of the twentieth century." -- Ed Block, Agate Magazine

"Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac was my first book of nature writing and changed my view of the world with such words as: 'It is warm behind the driftwood now, for the wind has gone with the geese. So would I - if I were the wind.' I still have my original, yellowed and marked-up copy and will never let it go." --Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing

Publishing Information

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Pub date: 2020-05-01
Length: 240 pages

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