Southwestern Homelands

June 1, 2002
Travel, Kittredge writes, "is a technique for staying in touch, a wake-up call, not a diversion but a responsibility." A renowned fiction writer and essayist last heard in book form in " The Nature of Generosity" (2000), he sums up his 20-plus years of exploring and opening his Oregon-bred heart to the Southwest in a quietly powerful blend of natural and human history. A region of stark beauty riven by violent injustice along the border with Mexico, and rendered ecologically precarious as the desert is asked to support an ever-swelling population, the Southwest exemplifies resiliency and toughness, inspiring Kittredge to ruminate over what constitutes a homeland and how such interweavings of place and feeling change over time. Humble and frank in his role as both outsider and one of many writers stoked to eloquence by the grit and grace of southwestern life, including the trailblazer Edward Abbey, Charles Bowden, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Gary Paul Nabhan, and Simon Ortiz, Kittredge is an ideal guide not only to the complexities of this evocative homeland but also to the psyche itself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)