American Nature Writing

Nature writing has for too long been the exclusive preserve of the flower cutters. You know, those folks who sit in their back gardens, treating the natural world like God is some Almighty Gardener. All is right with the world and the lion will lie down with the lamb.T'ain't so.Nature is an inscrutable on-going event. Life and violent death are everywhere. We are not above it, looking down on Nature as if it were a clock-work automaton and we the appreciative audience. We are, in fact, part of it.The writers Murray has selected for the 1999 edition of his annual masterwork all view nature from the inside. The make us feel we are there, sharing moments with them. What else could be better than that?