Forests: The Shadow of Civilization

In this wide-ranging exploration of the role of forests in Western thought, Robert Pogue Harrison enriches our understanding not only of the forest's place in the cultural imagination of the West, but also of the ecological dilemmas that now confront us so urgently. Consistently insightful and beautifully written, this work is especially compelling at a time when the forest, as a source of wonder, respect, and meaning, disappears daily from the earth". "Forests" is one of the most remarkable essays on the human place in nature I have ever read, and belongs on the small shelf that includes Raymond Williams' masterpiece, "The Country and the City". Elegantly conceived, beautifully written, and powerfully argued, [ "Forests" ] is a model of scholarship at its passionate best. No one who cares about cultural history, about the human place in nature, or about the future of our earthly home, should miss it". - -William Cronon, "Yale Review"

"Elegant and thought-provoking, Robert Harrison's book manages to see "both" the wood "and" the trees in the cultural history of the forests. It will be read with pleasure and profit by anyone who cares about the place of the woodland in the imagination of the west". --Simon Schama Robert Pogue Harrison was born in Izmir, Turkey. Educated in Italy and the United States, he teaches French and Italian literature at Stanford University, and is the author of "The Body of Beatrice".