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Home Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape Paperback – August 20, 2013

by Barry Lopez (Editor), Debra Gwartney (Editor)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 103 ratings
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Hailed by book reviewers as a "masterpiece," "gorgeous and fascinating," and "sheer pleasure," Home Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape was published in fall 2006 in hardcover. It was met with outstanding reviews and strong sales, going into three printings. A language-lover's dream, this visionary reference revitalized a descriptive language for the American landscape by combining geography, literature, and folklore in one volume. This is a totally redesigned, near-pocket-sized field guide edition of the best-selling hardcover.

Home Ground brings together 45 poets and writers to create more than 850 original definitions for words that describe our lands and waters. The writers draw from careful research and their own distinctive stylistic, personal, and regional diversity to portray in bright, precise prose the striking complexity of the landscapes we inhabit. Includes an introductory essay by Barry Lopez. At the heart of the book is a community of writers in service to their country, emphasizing a language suggesting the vastness and mystery that lie beyond our everyday words.

Contributors include: Jeffery Renard Allen, Kim Barnes, Conger Beasley, Jr., Franklin Burroughs, Lan Samantha Chang, Michael Collier, Elizabeth Cox, John Daniel, Jan DeBlieu, William deBuys, Gretel Ehrlich, Charles Frazier, Pamela Frierson, Patricia Hampl, Robert Hass, Emily Hiestand, Linda Hogan, Stephen Graham Jones, John Keeble, Barbara Kingsolver, William Kittredge, Jon Krakauer, Gretchen Legler, Arturo Longoria, Bill McKibben, Ellen Meloy, Robert Morgan, Susan Brind Morrow, Antonya Nelson, Robert Michael Pyle, Pattiann Rogers, Scott Russell Sanders, Eva Saulitis, Donna Seaman, Carolyn Servid, Kim Stafford, Mary Swander, Arthur Sze, Mike Tidwell, Luis Alberto Urrea, Luis Verano, D. J. Waldie, Joy Williams, Terry Tempest Williams, and Larry Woiwode.
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  1. Print length
    672 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Trinity University Press
  4. Publication date
    August 20, 2013
  5. Dimensions
    4.5 x 1.5 x 7.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1595341757
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1595341754
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Home Ground is a treasure house of a book, chocked with gems of the American vernacular. To learn these terms for features of the landscape is like putting on a new pair of glasses―the land comes more vividly into focus. But to call this a reference work is to shortchange it―the entries are written by some of our best writers, and the result is an unexpected page turner.”― Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma

“Reading hundreds of pages of alphabetized definitions of landscape terms in one sitting may sound as appealing as spending a long hot day in an Arizona malpais―a desert landscape that is, to quote Cormac McCarthy, “all cracked and reddish black like a pan of dried blood”―but it ends up being a lot of fun.”― New York Times

“‘Home Ground’ . . . is a civilized pleasure, in the way great reference books can be.”― San Francisco Chronicle

“One can almost hear mountains and hills bursting into song, and trees of the field clapping their hands.”― Christian Century

“A group of writers has collected more than 800 fading landscape terms in a new book ― Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape. ”― National Public Radio

About the Author

Barry Lopez was an essayist, author, and short-story writer who traveled extensively in both remote and populated parts of the world. He is the author of Arctic Dreams, which received the National Book Award; Horizon, Of Wolves and Men, Home Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape; and eight works of fiction, including Outside, Light Action in the Caribbean, Field Notes, and Resistance. He is the author of Syntax of the River: The Pattern Which Connects with Julia Martin. His essays are collected in two books, Crossing Open Ground and About This Life. Lopez lived in western Oregon.

Debra Gwartney is the author of the memoir Live Through This, which expands the story of her relationship with her daughters that was broadcast on This American Life in 2002. Her short stories, personal narratives, essays, and articles have appeared in numerous magazines and journals. Recent publications include a memoir in Triquarterly, an essay in Modern Bride magazine, and a “Modern Love” essay in the New York Times. She is a former reporter for the Oregonian and was a nonfiction scholar at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Her honors include fellowships from the Oregon Arts Commission, Literary Arts, the Hedgebrook Writers’ Colony, the Wurlitzer Foundation, and the American Antiquarian Society, and the John Eliot Teaching Award at Portland State University. She lives in Western Oregon.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Trinity University Press; Revised edition (August 20, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 672 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1595341757
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1595341754
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.19 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.5 x 1.5 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 103 ratings

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  1. Barry H. Lopez

    Barry H. Lopez

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    Barry Lopez (b. 1945) is the author of thirteen books of essays, short stories, and nonfiction. He is a recipient of the National Book Award, the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and numerous other literary and cultural honors and awards. His highly acclaimed books include Arctic Dreams, Winter Count, and Of Wolves and Men, for which he received the John Burroughs and Christopher medals. He lives in western Oregon. His latest book, Horizon, will be available in March 2019.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Debra Gwartney

    Debra Gwartney

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Born in Salmon, Idaho, a fifth generation Idahoan, Debra Gwartney is the winner of the 2018 RiverTeeth Nonfiction Prize, judged by Gretel Ehrlich. Her hybrid memoir-history, called I Am a Stranger Here Myself, will be published in March of 2019 by the University of New Mexico Press.

    Debra’s first book is a memoir, Live Through This, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2009, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, and the Oregon Book Award.

    Debra has published widely, with work included in such journals as Granta, Tin House, American Scholar, The Normal School, Creative Nonfiction, Prairie Schooner, Washington Square Review, Kenyon Review, Salon, Triquarterly Review, the NYT "Modern Love" column, among others. She is the 2018 winner of the Real Simple essay contest. She is a contributing editor at Poets & Writers magazine and in 2015 won the Crab Orchard Review prize for nonfiction.

    She has received fellowships from Hedgebrook, Playa, UCross, and the Wurlitzer Foundation.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
103 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

ALJ
5.0 out of 5 stars More than a reference, a Literary Anthology of our American Homeland
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2006
Verified Purchase
When I first got my hands on this beautiful book, I'd barely read a page before I started to cry. Barry Lopez, Debra Gwartney, and more of the best writers of our day have saved what I didn't even realize I was losing. I've often felt, when near an exotic Asian or spicy islander that being an American, especially a Midwesterner, meant I had no culture. The United States was developed under the influence of a vast wild land, a land to conquer. We tore down and built up, paying little attention to what we destroyed. I wonder if that accounts for empty Americans trying to fill themselves up with stuff? But the U. S. isn't only about development and acquisition. Home Ground preserves the culture and language of our landscape.

"we will conserve only what we love

we will love only what we understand

we will understand only what we're taught"

Baba Dioum, Senegal

The marginalia literature quotations and the descriptive entries bind place to culture. Because I do feel a connection to the landscapes I have known, this book reminds me that I am a part of a culture that has a language. A language we might have lost.
39 people found this helpful
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Jennifer Zenquis
5.0 out of 5 stars Im loving this so much
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2022
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I love all the definitions of words we use commonly or not so commonly about the natural environment that most of us cannot always experience. The definition for acre I’m especially obsessed with! This is the perfect “coffee table” book or “bedside table” book to just open and read a few entries.
One person found this helpful
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Bad Larry
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book.
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2018
Verified Purchase
This book is a must read for an avid outdoorsman/hunter/fisherman such as myself. When hunting all over the country, terms for many land features vary widely, and this helps navigate through local vernacular.
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Jim Reed
4.0 out of 5 stars Encyclopedic nature guide
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2024
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A perfect resource guide to the natural world.
Wasn't a Lopez non-fiction nature writing treat that I anticipated, however.
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M. Mazzaferro
5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2017
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Love this book. Not a book I'd sit down and read cover to cover, but nice to peruse when the spirit moves me.
One person found this helpful
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S. M. Lea
5.0 out of 5 stars Landscapes and Language
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2007
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The book defines (with illustrations) terms used to describe land features, such as barranca, grand bois, quaking bog. It is primarily a book to dip into for fun or to consult as a reference. If you like descriptive terms (e.g., meander scar) or puzzling friends with new words, you will like this book.
10 people found this helpful
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SW Bird Lover
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful literary reference
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2023
I have the original version of this book copyright in 2006. I see it was updated in 2013. I hope they removed the ridiculous desciption of Country Rock written by Jon Krakauer. He states that geologists and mountain climbers have a bias against any nonigneous rock. "This latter vastness of highly complex, nonigneous geology is summarily dismissed as country rock." It wouldn't surprise me if mountain climbers held such a shallow opinion of our planet. But geologists? Without nonigneous rock geologists would never have discovered fossils and the story of life on earth. Many working geologists work for extraction companies. They look for oil, coal, lithium, etc, none of which are found in igneous rock. I think his description is biased by his mountain climber's ignorance.

I love everything else about this book. But when I recommend it I always suggest skipping the nonsense written by Jon Krakauer.
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povvop
5.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2019
Verified Purchase
Well done
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