Nature writing—that category of American literature that examines our relationship to the land—is enjoying a renewed popularity among adult readers of non-fiction. Since 1968, with the publication of Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire—an account of his years as a seasonal ranger in southern Utah—writers such as Annie Dillard, Barry Lopez, Diane Ackerman, and Rick Bass have reached ever wider audiences interested in both fine writing and the natural world. Much of this interest is due in part to the growing number of environmental problems that confront us as Americans and as global citizens. How we live in and with nature, and use and change it, is much in the headlines and on our minds.