Sisters of the Earth: Women's Prose and Poetry about Nature

I've assigned Lorraine Anderson's Sisters of the Earth in my nature writing and literature classes since it first came out. I teach at a co-ed college and both male as well as female students identify with its strong sense of place as well as its sincere approach to concerns regarding nature. In course reviews, they tell me, "Assign this book again!" The eloquence of both prose and poetry in this book is as startling as the heron landing just now on the shore of my Mississippi River house as I write this review. In short, this collection touches the soul.

Naturalists is perhaps too narrow a word choice for the one hundred contributors to this anthology; I suspect only a few would use that word when describing themselves. Their ages span more than a century, so the style of writing varies widely, but each has something quite special to share with a reader looking for a few moments of luminousness or quiet revelation in the midst of a busy day.Here's one of my favorite bits, and I'm paraphrasing: Men climb mountains to conquer them; women climb mountains to go deeper within themselves, to feel a oneness with nature. When I read that, I lifted my eyes from the page, stared at the horizon and thought how much more poetic and truthful that is than the usual Mars/Venus type of comparison.Contributors range from regionalist Sarah Orne Jewett to internationalist Diane Ackerman; there are African Americans, Native Americans, Jews, Catholics, mystics, and poets among this mix, with plenty of boundary crossing.Very lovely. Not, I believe, a book meant to be read cover to cover. Rather, let it rest beside your favorite reading chair or at your bedside, and read a few entries now and then at random. I think you'll be charmed, as I was.

I found a lot more than I'd expected in this book. The editor obviously put a lot of thought into her selection of authors and passages from their works. It seemed to me as if these were the passages I would have marked for rereading had I read those works myself. Pretty much every selection struck me as being beautifully inspirational, poetic, or otherwise moving. I'd forgotten how much simply reading about nature can do to lift and heal the spirit. I also learned a lot: I was unaware that so many women have been writing about nature for so many years -- and it was sobering to realize that much of what the earlier authors wrote about no longer exists in our world today.The author bios themselves make for fascinating reading. (You can't help but wonder how your own life would be summed up in a paragraph or two.) And of course, as I'd expect from any good anthology, this collection inspired me to add quite a few items to my "to-read" list. The nearly 40-page bibliography includes very helpful summaries, and lists not just the sources of this anthology's selections but many other works as well.Whatever you might expect from Sisters of the Earth, I doubt you'll be disappointed. There should be something in it for everyone -- and it's a pretty book that would make a great gift.

I have found this book to be wonderful in the growth process of the spirit. A truly marvelous piece of work, a compilation that is worth a second volume, indeed. This is a perfect "anytime" gift, to your self as well as others that are journeying the spirit.

Sisters of the Earth is one of the best books I have ever read. It is a collection of stories on woman's relationship to the earth. Each short piece is written by a woman from the United States from any time in our history - about some connection she has with the earth. I've turned down so many pages in this book and put in little post-it notes saying "great!". After reading one of the stories a new author's work is now available to me. I give this book to others as a gift all the time. The stories themselves are personal reflections of nature that speak softly to me of the wonders I am surrounded by and often fail to notice. These stories remind me of where I really live and how powerful my connection is to the earth. I would love to see a second volume by Lorraine Anderson on this topic, she has selected well. I have also read Cries of the Spirit, also a book about woman's connection to the earth and found it very good also.