Marshes: The Disappearing Edens

In the best traditions of Roger Tory Peterson, Elliot Porter, and Edward Abbey, among many others, William Burt has crafted here a lovely paean to North America's marshlands, where land and water are interlaced with diverse biota, forming one of nature's crucial ecological niches. Burt's exquisite photographs both document his encounters in dozens of marshes--from Connecticut to Maryland, from the Gulf Coast to Saskatchewan, from the Great Plains to California--and complement his beautifully wrought prose, laced as it is with quotations from the best and brightest over the last 150 years. The book is both an elegy for what has been lost and a celebration of what remains. As in the best of this genre, it's a cautionary tale--and a challenge for enlightened stewardship of the planet. Do consider reading Abbey's Appalachian Wilderness as a worthy companion.

Looking into the depths of each richly colored photo, you forget that marshes are endangered places now in North America. These photos show the strange and mysterious birds you may hear, or even see startle up into the sky, but seldom have a chance to view up close. The photo pages are interspersed with a nostalgic text, recounting the author's journey through wetlands.