The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness

The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness - Hardcover

$35.00
$35.00
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The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness
  • The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness
The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness - Hardcover

The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness - Hardcover

by Cal Flyn
$35.00
$35.00

Book Overview

A lyrical exploration of the world's wildest, most forbiddingly remote places--and the humans who have always been there, by
"the best non-fiction writer of her generation," according to The Times

From the blacksand beaches of Iceland, to river crossings deep in the Amazon jungle, to the barren beauty of Antarctica, wildernesses make up some of the world's more alluring natural landscapes. But what is a wilderness, really? It is a powerful, ancient concept, lying at the intersection of landscape, philosophy, and ecology. And for thousands of years, people have sought out uncontrolled, unknown, or uncharted nature in search of religious epiphany, self-actualization, and an escape from modern life. More recently these "pristine" places have been seen as the subject of a last effort to repair a planet imperiled by humans.

But as award-winning writer Cal Flyn traverses the most forbidding, untamed and inhospitable wild lands--the supposedly uninhabited wilds of the world--she finds that such truly untouched lands don't exist: Nearly every wilderness has been or is actively inhabited by humans. Here we meet ascetics in search of theophany in the desert; lonely shepherds running off wolves under the stars; missionaries preaching from shacks deep in the jungle; wise lamas meditating under lofty mountain peaks.

The Savage Landscape takes us into these breathtaking wilds--deep into dark forests, to the tops of mountains, and into the hearts of deserts--asking provocative questions about the nature of wilderness, its preservation, and its meaning.
ISBN9780593833087
Author Cal Flyn
PublisherViking
GenreHobbies & interests and Philosophy
FormatHardcover
PublishedJuly 2026
LanguageENG- English
Pages448
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Nature Nonfiction Philosophy

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More by Cal Flyn

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About Cal Flyn

Cal Flyn is an author, an investigative journalist, and a MacDowell fellow from the Highlands of Scotland. She has worked as a reporter for The Sunday Times and The Telegraph and has contributed to publications including Granta, The Guardian, The Times, The Observer, and others. Her first book, Thicker Than Water, was one of The Times's best books of 2016.

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