Wildest Places on Earth : Italian Gardens and the Invention of Wilderness image
Wildest Places on Earth : Italian Gardens and the Invention of Wilderness Mitchell, John Hanson Edition: 2001 Publisher: Counterpoint Number of Pages: 208 ISBN10: 1582430462 ISBN13: 9781582430461 Dimensions: 6.30" w x 8.66" l Weight: 0.90 lbs. Binding: Trade Cloth Language: English List Price: 24.00

Description

"In The Wildest Place on Earth John Hanson Mitchell sets out on a journey to uncover the essence of wilderness. Instead of traveling to the outermost boundaries of the earth in his quest, he ends up exploring the green realms of his childhood and the haunted gardens of Italy, the original source of inspiration for the painters and conservationists who shaped the American concept of wilderness." "S..."In The Wildest Place on Earth John Hanson Mitchell sets out on a journey to uncover the essence of wilderness. Instead of traveling to the outermost boundaries of the earth in his quest, he ends up exploring the green realms of his childhood and the haunted gardens of Italy, the original source of inspiration for the painters and conservationists who shaped the American concept of wilderness." "Searching for wildness, Mitchell is ultimately pulled inward toward home, back to what Thoreau called "contact" - an abiding, enduring, and daily connection with the world of nature. He comes to realize that the wildest place may be right in his own backyard."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights ReservedMitchell, editor of the National Audubon Society magazine and author of natural and human history books, deals with the perennial human quest for inspiration in wild places, and the irony of finding it not in the remote wilderness of the mountains but in the well-ordered, cultivated gardens of Europe<-->and his own back garden in Massachusetts. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)In five highly acclaimed books, John Hanson Mitchell has explored small local landscapes to ask the larger question of what it means to be living on earth in our time. In his newest exploration he sets out from the convoluted paths of a traditional hedge maze in his own garden to find, in the civilized and ordered gardens of Italy, the inspiration for the painters and conservationists who shaped our American concept of wilderness. While searching for wildness in today's crowded, smog-filled "wilderness" parks, however, he is pulled inward and toward home, back to what Thoreau called "contact": an abiding, enduring, and daily connection with the world of nature. Throughout this quest are the exquisite observations, the wit and the aura of magic that have endeared knowing readers to the work of this consummate natural historian. (more) (less)

Table of Contents

Prologuep. xi
Contactp. 3
The Great Forestp. 12
The Garden in the Woodsp. 23
In a Green Shadep. 45
The Genteel Romanticsp. 70
Italian Reveriesp. 90
Into the Wildp. 104
The Italian Debtp. 123
The Cathedral in the Pinesp. 138
The Fate of Earthp. 151
Backyard Serengetip. 173
Epilogue: The Persistence of Panp. 187
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

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