Overview

The rocks of the Niagara Escarpment were formed in the middle of the Silurian Period (c. 443 to c. 412 million years ago) and were exposed during periods of glaciation that prevented and removed subsequent geologic depositions as recently as 11,000 years ago in the northern Midwest. The Arc of the Escarpment invites us to discover nearly hidden evidence of the Escarpment, ascend to cliff tops, descend to the base of cliffs, crawl into sinkhole-formed caverns, walk the woodlands that surround the cliffs, learn the changes that industry and commerce made to the landscape, and discover the sites that ecologists and conservationists have explored and preserved. With great detail and a sincere dedication to place, Robert Root encourages us to pay attention to the land beneath our feet, appreciate its changes, and value its preservation as we travel back through time and appreciate the scale of the history of the landscape around us.

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9781960329257

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Reviews

"""Moving through landscapes of erosion and uplift, collapse and contortion, Root might be looking for what defines him and his home, but he offers us even more: the reminder that when we know more about not just who and where we are but also when we are, we can begin to wrestle with the fallacy of arbitrary boundaries and to understand-deeply-the value of humility. What a satisfyingly provocative read."" -Barbara Hurd, author of The Epilogues ""'Always alert for synchronicity, ' Robert Root takes us along his nature hikes as he follows the Niagara Escarpment. His exacting descriptions illuminate his observations: natural springs, sink holes, caves with spots of hungry mud, gorges, creeks, ravines, alvars and grikes (the latter big enough to shelter bears), dancing sand, lighthouses, grottos, arches, waterfalls, and plunge pools. And he enriches these stories of stone and scalloped shorelines with research, revealing a stunning breadth of history held in shapes that glaciers made."" -Christine Stewart-Nuñez, author of Chrysopoeia: Essays of Language, Love, and Place ""In the tradition of Loren Eiseley and Robin Wall Kimmerer, Bob Root offers the reader a chance to take his hand and go on a journey under the skin of complex ecologies. Over a lifetime of observation and contemplation of human and more than human ecologists in the fulsome Great Lakes region, this writer brings to bear a wealth of detail and insights that traverse time and ecological thought. As we huddle and contend with climate change, Root is with us as he records and reveres specific, complex places and indigenous knowledge of place, so essential to understanding what it means to be human now."" -Leslie Carol Roberts, author of The Entire Earth and Sky: Views on Antarctica"

Author Information

Robert Root's narratives of history and place include Recovering Ruth: A Biographer's Tale, Following Isabella: Travels in Colorado Then and Now, and Walking Home Ground: In the Footsteps of Muir, Leopold, and Derleth, and the essay collection Postscripts: Retrospections on Time and Place. He is the editor of the anthology Landscapes With Figures: The Nonfiction of Place and co-editor of the anthology The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of/on Creative Nonfiction. He has published and presented widely on creative nonfiction.His essay ""A Double Life,"" published in Writing on the Edge, won the 2007 Donald Murray Award for Best Essay on Writing and/or Teaching. ""Postscript to a Postscript to 'The Ring of Time',"" published in The Pinch, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won the Council of Wisconsin Writers Short Nonfiction Award. He has been an Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Isle Royale National Park, and a visiting writer at the Kachemak Bay, Sanibel Island, and Geneva Writers Conferences. He lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Further information is available at www.rootwriting.com.

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