Annals of the Former World - Hardcover

McPhee, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374105200 ISBN 13: 9780374105204

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc, 1998

Synopsis

Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross-section of North America at about the fortieth parallel and, in the process, come to an understanding not only of the science but of the style of the geologists he traveled with. Like the terrain it covers, "Annals of the Former World" tells a many-layered tale, and the reader may choose one of many paths through it, guided by twenty-five new maps and the "Narrative Table of Contents" (an essay outlining the history and structure of the project). Read sequentially, the book is an organic succession of set pieces, flashbacks, biographical sketches, and histories of the human and lithic kind; approached systematically, it can be a North American geology primer, an exploration of plate tectonics, or a study of geologic time and the development of the time scale.

About this title

Review:

"Tripling as a geology primer, an autobiography and a panorama of the nation, bejeweled with splendid vignettes and set-pieces, ""Annals of the Former World"" offers a view of America like no other. It is the outpouring of a master stylist. Yield to its geopoetry and have your eyes opened to a barely known aspect of the continent."-Roy Porter, "Los Angeles Times"
"John McPhee has produced, over nearly a quarter of a century, a deep philology of the continent. "Annals of the Former World" is surely a classic. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was timeless."-A.O. Scott, "Village Voice"

Tripling as a geology primer, an autobiography and a panorama of the nation, bejeweled with splendid vignettes and set-pieces, ""Annals of the Former World"" offers a view of America like no other. It is the outpouring of a master stylist. Yield to its geopoetry and have your eyes opened to a barely known aspect of the continent. Roy Porter, "Los Angeles Times"

John McPhee has produced, over nearly a quarter of a century, a deep philology of the continent. "Annals of the Former World" is surely a classic. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was timeless. "A.O. Scott, Village Voice""

"Tripling as a geology primer, an autobiography and a panorama of the nation, bejeweled with splendid vignettes and set-pieces, "Annals of the Former World" offers a view of America like no other. It is the outpouring of a master stylist. Yield to its geopoetry and have your eyes opened to a barely known aspect of the continent." --Roy Porter, Los Angeles Times

"John McPhee has produced, over nearly a quarter of a century, a deep philology of the continent. Annals of the Former World is surely a classic. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was timeless." --A.O. Scott, Village Voice

From the Publisher:

Awards and more acclaim for ANNALS OF THE FORMER WORLD:
* WINNER of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in General Non-Fiction

"A work of such scope and seeming inevitability that it feels as predetermined as a mountain range." --David Ulin, Chicago Tribune

"ANNALS OF THE FORMER WORLD is surely a classic. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was timeless." --A.O. Scott, Village Voice

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0374105200
• ISBN 13: 9780374105204
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 624