A Sand County almanac : with essays on conservation

Format:

Book

Title:

A Sand County almanac : with essays on conservation

Author:

Leopold, Aldo, 1886-1948.

ISBN:

9780195146172

9780199726523

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

190 pages : color illustrations ; 32 cm

Contents:

January. January thaw -- February. Good oak -- March. The geese return -- April. Come high water -- Draba -- Bur oak -- Sky dance -- May. Back from the Argentine -- June. The Alder Fork -- July. Great possessions -- Prairie birthday -- August. The green pasture -- September. The choral copse -- October. Smoky gold -- Too early -- Red lanterns -- November. If I were the wind -- Axe-in-hand -- A mighty fortress -- December. Home range -- Pines above the snow -- 65290 -- Marshland elegy -- The land ethic. The ethical sequence -- The community concept -- The ecological conscience -- Substitutes for a land ethic -- The land pyramid -- Land health and the A-B cleavage -- The outlook.

Summary:

A collection of nature writings by American conservationist Aldo Leopold based on his experiences and feelings while at his weekend farm along the Wisconsin River, illustrated with photographs taken at the farm over the course of a year.

Subject(s):

Natural history -- Outdoor books.

Natural history -- United States.

Nature conservation -- United States.

Nature -- Observation -- États-Unis.

Nature -- Observation -- Récits personnels.

Geographic Term:

United States.

Genre:

Essays.

Guidebooks.

Added Author:

Sewell, Michael, 1960-

Added Uniform Title:

Analysed in (work): Companion to A Sand County almanac.

Complemented by (work): Green fire.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	508 Leopold	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Salem Main Library	OVERSIZE 508.73 Leopold 2001	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac has enthralled generations of nature lovers and conservationists and is indeed revered by everyone seriously interested in protecting the natural world. Hailed for prose that is "full of beauty and vigor and bite" (The New York Times), it is perhaps the finest example of nature writing since Thoreau's Walden. Now this classic work is available in a completely redesigned and lavishly illustrated gift edition, featuring over one hundred beautiful full-color pictures by Michael Sewell, one of the country's leading nature photographers. Sewell, whose work has graced the pages of Audubon and Sierra magazines, walked Leopold's property in Wisconsin and shot these photographs specifically for this edition, allowing readers to see Sand County as Leopold saw it. The resulting layout is spectacular. But the heart of the book remains Leopold's carefully rendered observations of nature. Here we follow Leopold throughout the year, from January to December, as he walks about the rural Wisconsin landscape, watching a woodcock dance skyward in golden afternoon light, or spying a rough-legged hawk dropping like a feathered bomb on its prey. And perhaps most important are Leopold's trenchant comments throughout the book on our abuse of the land and on what we must do to preserve this invaluable treasure. This edition also includes two of Leopold's most eloquent essays on conservation, "The Land Ethic" and "Marshland Elegy." With this gift edition of A Sand County Almanac, a new generation of readers can walk beside one of America's most respected naturalists as he conveys the beauty of a marsh before sunrise or the wealth of history to be found in an ancient oak.

Author Notes

Aldo Leopold, who has become the most esteemed ecologist of this century, is best remembered for his articulation of the "land ethic," which demonstrates a respect and reverence for all life. His landmark book A Sand County Almanac, published in 1949, is considered by many to be the most significant book published on nature and the environment.

Born in Burlington, Iowa, Leopold attended the Yale Graduate School of Forestry (newly established in 1900 by Gifford Pinchot) and graduated in 1909. He immediately began his career with the U.S. Forest Service as a forest assistant in Arizona and later became supervisor of Carson National Forest in New Mexico in 1912. During his stint in the Southwest, he encouraged interest in establishing the Gila Wilderness Area in southwest New Mexico, the first in the national forest wilderness system. He later moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to help direct the Forest Products Laboratory from 1925 to 1927. He worked for a while as a game consultant and completed his book Game Management in 1933. Soon thereafter, he became professor of game management at the University of Wisconsin and held that position until his death in 1948. Leopold was one of the founders of The Wilderness Society in 1935 and an organizer of The Wildlife Society in 1937, which later created the Aldo Leopold Award, which has been awarded annually since 1950 for significant achievements in wildlife biology and conservation. The Leopold Memorial Reserve, a private 1,400-acre tract near Baraboo, Wisconsin, is dedicated to his memory. The landmark of the reserve is the Shack, Leopold's country retreat in one of central Wisconsin's "sand counties," a place which he describes so vividly in his journals.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

These original essays on the natural environment by renowned conservationist Leopold (1887-1948) were first published posthumously in 1949. In this edition, more than 80 lush photographs shot by nature photographer Sewell on Leopold's former Wisconsin farm accompany the text. Following the seasons, Leopold, whose seminal work in the U.S. Forest Service and in books and magazines helped shape the conservation movement in this country, shared his perceptive and carefully observed portraits of nature month by month. In April, he watched the "sky dance" of the woodcock, who flew upward in a series of spirals. As he hunted partridges in October, his way was lit by "red lanterns," the blackberry leaves that shone in the sun. A November rumination details how the products of tree diseases provide wooded shelters for woodpeckers, hives for wild bees and food for chickadees. Included also is an appreciative essay on wild marshland and several pieces stressing the importance of protecting the natural environment. Leopold sadly observed, "there is yet no ethic dealing with man's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it." His hope that society would develop an "ecological conscience" by placing what should be preserved above what is economically expedient remains relevant today. These evocative essays about the farm Leopold loved will again be enjoyed by nature lovers and preservationists alike. Though the book has been continuously in print, this beautiful illustrated edition, with its introduction by nature writer Brower (The Starship and the Canoe) will attract fans and newcomers and will make a great gift book this holiday season. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved