Flight Maps

March 29, 1999
At a time when plastic flamingos outnumber real ones 700 to one and car commercials suggest that all-wheel-drive may save your soul, Price is understandably uneasy about America's relationship to nature. How is it that the 1960s enthusiasm for hiking has led to the proliferation of "nature stores hawk Ansel Adams calendars and inflatable penguins in mother-ship shopping malls"? What does "nature" mean when Americans' "most common... encounters with the natural world take place through mass-produced culture"? Price begins her search for answers by considering two events of the late 19th century: the sudden extinction of passenger pigeons and the Audubon Society's campaign against the feather-millinery trade. She then turns her attention to contemporary culture: a brief history of the pink flamingo, from kitsch to cult, leads to a discussion of taste and artificiality. Through her examination of popular artifacts (dinner menus, 18th-century cookbooks, TV shows, etc.), Price argues that Americans "have used a vision of Nature as a not-modern Place Apart to understand, navigate, enjoy, critique and ultimately evade the defining hallmarks, troubles and confusions of modern American life." Though her conclusion is not groundbreaking, Price's lucid prose and witty observations make following her argument a pleasure. Illustrations not seen by PW.