Nature writing is no narrower or more pious today than it was in Thoreau’s time. It’s we, the public, who have grown restive and indifferent. Thoreau’s fellow citizens knew the local huckleberry patch almost as well as he did, and they responded not just to his exhortations but to his “hail fellow” moments of humor and camaraderie. Now, the bio of every prominent nature writer includes a career as a naturalist or a dwelling in undeveloped country. These writers still address the reader both charismatically and informally, as spiritual authorities and as peers. They draw on the familiar, friend-to-friend essay tradition as well as the Romantic prophetic tradition. Americans, however, cannot easily see them as peers. It is hard for us to imagine living in the sagebrush or recognizing an egret’s spoor. We still need our prophets, but we also need to supplement their works. We need a nature literature by and for the laity.

~ Anna Mills