Description:
Searching for answers to a "constellation of questions" about civilization and its assumptions, and for hope for the future of humanity, Alison Hawthorne Deming travels the world. Deming's work is an eloquent narrative that follows her ventures along the fringes of the wild, the uneasy boundary between civilization and its press into farther and farther grounds, "a fault line," she writes, "where pressure constantly builds, where the impingement of economic necessity abrades against nature." Deming begins the book on an Oregon beach, a border that remakes itself each moment, and takes this theme of change to various reaches of the globe--islands in the sea of Cortez, the Bay of Fundy, southern Mexico, South America, and Hawaii. Traveling, for instance, the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway in Colorado, Deming converses with urban planners, educators, commerce boosters, and residents about how tourism is altering that stretch of country. Contrasting new ways of thinking with old, Deming arrives at a deep and keen understanding of our present dilemmas. Deming writes about people and place with a poetic voice that seems to soar toward some fragile resolution, assurance, and peace. Yet there is urgency in her questioning of civilization's course. Ultimately, she asks what many are asking--How are we to live?--and answers with a challenge to see ourselves as citizens, not of a singular place, but of the entire living and physical community we call Earth. --Byron Ricks
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