Although the entries that I browsed in this reference work were uniformly excellent, the book lacked any real introductory text or structure to contextualize the works described. The alphabetical organizational structure, although it makes things easy to find, is limiting in this regard. Perhaps a thematic approach, with introductory essays to contextualize the entries, would have been more successful. ( )

A useful primer and reference for anyone interested in literary environmentalism. ( )

This book was both a treasure and a disappointment. I have not read it all, but have browsed heavily and I hope representatively. I received it from the Library Thing Early Reviewers program and promised a review. I am not generally into literary analysis, but found the idea of an encyclopedic look at American Literature that shows an influence by or on the Environment to be intriguing. The editors make a good case that a great deal of American Literature is influenced by Environment - with literary biographies of writers paired with entries on some of their major works. I found many writers that I expected, and also some new to me that I look forward to reading. I find it interesting that two Canadian editors produced this study of American literature - which seems limited to United States (or its precursors) authors. I can see this book as an interesting browse for readers interested in the topic, and possibly as a reference for students and scholars, but don't see a huge market - The price is high, at $75 for a paperback - though it is dense and in small print. I was annoyed by several things. There is an index, with authors and works well represented, but only a few topics. I found bears, ecology, wilderness, gardening, and environmental justice movement; but no entry for oceans, coast, seas, or similar- Since Melville, Hemmingway and Rachel Carson are included, It would be nice to have a way to find other writers on marine themes. Other terms I loked for without finding them were prairies, sustainability, geology, soil, winter and deserts. Each entry is "signed" by a name - presumably the author of the entry, but there is no list of contributors and no indication of their affiliations. Each section has a bibliography, but lack of author information seems a big oversight for a scholarly work. The Encyclopedic entries stand on their own. There is only a very brief preface and introduction to tie them together.

I'm happy to own the book, and will dip into it for background on authors and suggestions for reading, but am not sure I can strongly recommend it or justify its expense. ( )

This book provides a nice introduction to the American authors who have written on the environment. The short essays provide for quick reads, as a reference work this style works very well to give the reader a brief glance at a topic. The scope and range is pretty good for a relatively short work. ( )

In an interesting approach, the editors of this collection of short essays have produced what they describe as an "encyclopedia of the environment in American literature." The phrasing is important: this is not an anthology of environmental literature, but rather an overview of the ways in which the American environment has been discussed, represented, defended, and exploited in American writings from the founding era to the present day. (Note too that "literature" is also quite broadly defined, having been framed so as to include non-fiction works such as _Silent Spring_ as well as novels such as _Moby Dick_.)

Taken individually, the essays on the various authors and their signature pieces of writing are of high quality, providing a range of scholarly perspectives on the topic at hand. Taken collectively, they do make a convincing case that the environment has been a source of inspiration for generations of American writers and thinkers. The bibliographies at the end of each essay are also useful starting points for further exploration.

One possible drawback of the collection lies in its organization. The book presents its information alphabetically author by author, with key works by each treated as sub-sections within the main entry. (There are a few topical sections, as for Transcendentalism, but the author-work entry dominates.) The first problem with this approach is that if you're looking for a particular title, but cannot remember the author, you need to take an additional step and look it up in the index (which, while short, includes both specific works and authors, and general subject headings) as there are no cross-references in the main text. The second problem is that, by organizing information in this fashion, the editors have made it difficult to see how attitudes may have changed over time (or remained constant) - something they reference in the preface as being of interest. While each author's entry does include dates indicating when they were (or are) alive, and the books' publication dates are included, the work of constructing a chronology is left up to the reader. Thus the encyclopedia (in keeping with its name) is best treated as a reference to dip into, rather than something to read cover to cover.

On the whole, however, this is a useful resource and would find a home on the shelves of scholars, writers, environmentalists, and fans of American writing. ( )