Ill Nature: Meditations on Humanity and Other Animals - Hardcover

Williams, Joy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1585741876 ISBN 13: 9781585741878

Publisher: The Lyons Press, 2001

Synopsis

Bold, stunning essays on the abuse of nature, from one of the best fiction writers of our time. The year 2000 has the dubious distinction of boasting the highest sustained energy use, the most dramatic destruction of habitat, having the fastest-growing suburbs of all time. Most of us watch all this with mild concern. Joy Williams does much more than watch. With guts and passion, she sounds the alarm over the general disconnection from the natural world that our consumer culture has created. The culling of elephants, electron-probed chimpanzees, and the vanishing wetlands are just some of her subjects. Among the thirteen essays herein are: - "Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp," which considers the way we seem to love what we love to death. - "The Killing Game," her famous anti-hunting essay that caused a furor when it first appeared in Esquire. - "Safariland," deals with the state of wildlife in Africa. - "The Animal People," her take on the animal rights movement. - "The Case Against Babies." which remarks on the blithe determination of Americans to continue to populate the earth. Razor sharp, controversial, scathingly opinionated, and refreshingly unafraid of conflict.

About this title

About the Author

Joy Williams is the author of four novels, including The Quick and the Dead (Knopf 2000), two collections of short stories, and a history of the Florida Keys. Her first novel, State of Grace, was nominated for the 1974 National Book Award. Her work has appeared in Granta, Esquire, The Paris Review, Harper's, and dozens of other magazines and reviews. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.

From the Back Cover

Most of us watch with mild concern the fast disappearing wild spaces or the recurrence of pollution - related crises such as oil spills, toxic blooms in fertilizer-enriched rivers, and the increasing violence in our own country. Joy Williams does much more than watch. With guts and passion, she sounds the alarm over the general disconnection from the natural world that our consumer culture has created. The culling of elephants, electron-probed chimpanzees, and the vanishing wetlands are just some of her subjects. Razor-sharp, controversial, scathingly opinionated, and refreshingly unafraid of conflict, Williams refuses to compromise as she lashes out at the greed of Americans and decries our own turpitude. It is not enough to mourn the passing of the natural world, Ill Nature shouts. Get out of our homes and our cars and our cubicles and do something...now. (5 3/4 X 8 1/2, 228 pages)

Edition details

• Publisher: The Lyons Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1585741876
• ISBN 13: 9781585741878
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 214