Gay & Lesbian Studies, Homosexuality, Women's Studies

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Inspiring. . . . insights that are scientific, intimate and surprising. . . . a call to action for those who still care."― The Washington Post Inspired by forests, trees, leaves, roots, and seeds, The Language of A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape invites readers to discover an unexpected and imaginative language to better read and write the natural world around us and reclaim our relationship with it. In this gorgeously illustrated and deeply thoughtful collection, Katie Holten gifts readers her tree alphabet and uses it to masterfully translate and illuminate beloved lost and new, original writing in praise of the natural world. With an introduction from Ross Gay, and featuring writings from over fifty contributors including Ursula K. Le Guin, Ada Limón, Robert Macfarlane, Zadie Smith, Radiohead, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, James Gleick, Elizabeth Kolbert, Plato, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, Holten illustrates each selection with an abiding love and reverence for the magic of trees. She guides readers on a journey from creation myths and cave paintings to the death of a 3,500-year-old cypress tree, from Tree Clocks in Mongolia and forest fragments in the Amazon to the language of fossil poetry, unearthing a new way to see the natural beauty all around us and an urgent reminder of what could happen if we allow it to slip away. The Language of Trees considers our relationship with literature and landscape, resulting in an astonishing fusion of storytelling and art and a deeply beautiful celebration of trees through the ages.

Concrete Botany is a gritty, kick-in-the-guts look at the ecological disturbance humans have caused and the resilience of the plants living amongst it. Delivered in his raw and unapologetic yet botanically accurate tone, Joey Santore—the unforgettable host of Crime Pays but Botany Doesn’t—offers an often unsettling view of human-caused ecological destruction and its impact on the natural ecosystems our very lives depend on. The choices of modern civilization have led to a f***ed-up planet, scraped bare and covered in concrete and invasive species. We’ve wiped out entire ecosystems, moved invasive plants to new continents where they don’t belong, and, in a few hundred years, we’ve managed to muck up the intricate balance of a planet that has been evolving for eons. The consequences of our actions are now at our doorstep, ready to strike a match. But not all is lost. In this groundbreaking examination of plants and their role in the Anthropocene (the age of human disturbance), we see light through the cracks in the concrete and learn that humanity’s course correction starts with an understanding of plant ecology. With this knowledge comes the realization that the lives of humans and plants are interconnected in ways humans cannot live without. Plants are the base of every terrestrial ecosystem on the planet, and their presence can heal the damage humanity has caused. Our willingness to restore native plant communities and the biodiversity they support (starting in our immediate surroundings) is an essential first step in the right direction. While returning every abandoned brownfield and old rail corridor into a native plant–filled, fully restored ecosystem may be out of reach for the average citizen, fostering the native ecology and biodiversity of our own backyards is not. Concrete Botany is ultimately about how the choices we make as individuals can help ensure humanity’s survival on a very disturbed and rapidly changing planet.