Hearth

Reviews / Votes

Praise for Hearth





"A simmering collection of 32 provocative and stunning works . . . Ultimately, this profound and radiant volume reveals that hearths take many forms, including a book."-Booklist





"[A] remarkable new collection . . . 'We live within a blaze of transience both inevitable and complete,' writes Jane Hirshfield. Hearth captures both the evanescence of that blaze and its enduring power to heal us."-World Literature Today





"Astounding, gorgeous . . . From front cover to back, Hearth is a visually and intellectually stimulating collection, always beautiful, but equal parts uplifting and heartbreaking."-Missoulian





"[Hearth] is itself a literary adventure, a journey to hearths, literal and metaphorical, around the world, a visit with global citizens who are rooted and those who are on the road."-Quartz





"A wide-ranging anthology devoted to the idea and symbol of the hearth, a traditional centerpiece of the home, the collection avoids nostalgia and deals squarely with how community and place can be approached and enacted in a world torn by immigration crises, climate change, and inequality."-Stephen Sparks, Literary Hub





"Here is a book for our real or imagined hearths, prompting us to discover and redefine them. . . . Hearth serves as a guide and a tribute to our collective struggles and the many possibilities of home."-The Arkansas International





"Thought-provoking, meditative, mournful, and comforting for readers who seek a connection to purpose and meaning, the anthology acts as a hearth of its own."-Publishers Weekly





"The wisdom, compassion, and humanity in these pages are powerful medicine for our time. It's not necessary to begin at the beginning, but I did. I started with W. S. Merwin's beautiful poem and the rest of the essays seeped in where Merwin made his skillful soul-opening into my heart. By the time I put this gorgeous collection of writing down, I was flooded with both the balm of compassion and instructions for how to go forward, both."

-Alexandra Fuller, author of Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight





"Some of my favorite people on Earth are in this book, dear writers and grand spirits at whose hearths I long to sit. And there are writers who are new to me, fascinating people whose lives vivify how very much about human existence still remains to be learned."-Annie Dillard





"The first hearth, I suppose, before humans controlled fire, was the body heat of a she-wolf or a bear, curled in her den, offering nurture to shivering pups or cubs. These fine writers take it from there. Wolves don't need fire, as Barry notes. But they and we all need something like it-a focus, a refuge, a source."-David Quammen





Praise for The Wide Open





"From the pens of writers such as Judy Blunt, Rick Bass, Thomas McGuane, Barry Lopez, Richard Ford, Gretel Ehrlich, Peter Matthiesen, Richard Hugo, and James Galvin and through the stark lenses of photographers Lee Friedlander, Lois Conner, and Geoffrey James, we deeply inhabit the American prairie, a seemingly immutable place of hard-scrabble ranches, rivers, bears, birds, and wolves-a land so patiently alive we might miss it."-Bookforum





"A literate portrait of the prairie and the animals and folks who cooperatively attempt to make it home."-Montana Quarterly





"A superb evocation of the prairie and its life."-ForeWord





"Using photographs, fiction, and nonfiction, the editors have skillfully assembled a complex portrayal of the West's high, dry, and cold plains into a beautiful book."-Orion





"A beautiful memoir of the short-grass prairie of the northern Great Plains, which has channeled its voice through the writers and photographers found within the book."-Bloomsbury Review





"An essential anthology that celebrates the voice and spirit of the prairie. Anthologies can be hit or miss-this collection of poetry, prose, and photographs is right on the mark."-Great Plains Quarterly