Heart of the Land: Essays on Last Great Places

In cooperating with the Nature Conservancy, an internationally recognized conservation organization in Washington, D.C., 30 writers offer here their concept of ``last great places.'' Collectively, the essays celebrate landscapes that have been preserved and mourn those that have declined or vanished. Ann Zwinger paddles up an Ohio creek; Carl Hiassen reminisces about fishing in the Florida Keys; William Warner recalls his youth on the barrier beaches of Virginia. Gary Paul Nabhan explores dunes on California's central coast; Rick Bass takes us to the Texas hill country and Paul Theroux looks at the Rock Islands of Palau, Micronesia. William Kittredge gives a poignant account of his family's farming practices that destroyed the land in Oregon's Warner Valley. Louise Erdrich writes about the Northern Tallgrass Prairie; Victor Perera, the Guatemalan cloud forests. Peter Matthiessen compares Peconic Bay (New York) today with the bay of his childhood and John Jerome praises Florida scrubland. All this, and much more-superb nature writing to captivate the reader. (Feb.)