Overview

The East Country is a work of creative nonfiction in which the acclaimed nature writer Jules Pretty integrates memoir, natural history, cultural critique, and spiritual reflection into a single compelling narrative. Pretty frames his book around Aldo Leopold and his classic Sand Country Almanac, bringing Leopold's ethic-that so""The East Country, like all accomplished works of close ecological focus, moves cleverly between the intensely local and the universal. Jules Pretty unites his two distinguished careers-as a biologist and as a writer in the broad fields of nature, place and landscape-to encourage 'long attachments to the local' as profoundly valuable undertakings.""-Robert Macfarlane, author of The Old Ways and Landmarksme could live without nature but most should not-into the twenty-first century. In The East Country, Pretty follows the seasons through seventy-four tales set in a variety of landscapes from valley to salty shore. Pretty convinces us that we should all develop long attachments to the local, observing that the land can change us for the better.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jules Pretty
Publisher:   Cornell University Press
Imprint:   Cornell University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 0.90cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9781501709333

ISBN 10:   150170933
Pages:   158
Publication Date:   15 September 2017
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface A Geographic Locator January 1. The Winter Hesitation 2. One Glossy Ibis and Many Ticks 3. Winter Gales and Beliefs 4. Walk the Line 5. The Weight of a Snipe 6. The Old Battlefield February 7. Paths and Prints in Snow 8. Closing Time 9. To Iken 10. Saturation 11. The Box Valley March 12. Disturbing Hints of Spring 13. The Beach Crows 14. Some Spring for Celandine 15. Blackthorn Days 16. The Blue Light of Spring April 17. Two Buzzards 18. The Long Night of Hope 19. Mystery Solved 20. Nightingales and Green Men 21. Sailors' Reading Room 22. The Assington Elms May 23. The Owl and the Sun 24. The Bat and the Wild 25. Time Travel 26. Since Records Began 27. Bells in the Cow Parsley Section 28. Encounters 29. The Northern Sky 30. All Four Margins June 31. Magic in the Thicks 32. The Lost Shore 33. Hollyhock Summer 34. A Submission 35. Lay-Bys of the A12 36. The Cottage Hospital 37. Come Back the Wild 38. Anniversary July 39. Village Edgelands 40. Nature at a Nuclear Power Station 41. Digging for Victory 42. Under Another Atomic Sky 43. Heat Wave August 44. Pause for Ragwort 45. The End of the Road 46. Nightwalk 47. Soon, the Departure 48. The Tinker's Cottage 49. The Turn September 50. The Path 51. Mud Birds 52. Angels in the Back Lanes 53. Season of Mist and Fire 54. In Memoriam 55. The Rhythym of Farm Names October 56. Insect Life 57. A New Anniversary 58. Things and Doubt 59. Alarm Call 60. The Sands of Another Summer 61. Wait for the End November 62. Bonfire Night 63. At First, Silence 64. The Night Hours 65. Leaf Fall and Mists 66. Beach Fishermen and Water Sprites 67. Much Can Change in a Short Time 68. Passing Years December 69. A Marsh Murmuration 70. Poor Man's Heaven 71. Dark and Wet at Solstice 72. Pruning and Planning 73. Dark and Wet, Again 74. An East Wind Crossing the New Year Acknowledgments Notes by Tale Bibliography List of Photographs

Reviews

The East Country is a marvelous book. There is something mystical about it, coming perhaps from the sense of reverence that Jules Pretty accords the natural world. It gives the sense of a prose poem, a song of praise for a world that is vanishing. --Astrid E. J. Ogilvie, coeditor of The Iceberg in the Mist The East Country is a brave and visionary book. Jules Pretty's writing is clear and strong, and the questions he raises about our relationship with the natural world and our capacity to cultivate a real sense of place are of the greatest importance. --Douglas E. Christie, author of The Blue Sapphire of the Mind The East Country, like all accomplished works of close ecological focus, moves cleverly between the intensely local and the universal. Jules Pretty unites his two distinguished careers--as a biologist and as a writer in the broad fields of nature, place and landscape--to encourage 'long attachments to the local' as profoundly valuable undertakings. --Robert Macfarlane, author of The Old Ways and Landmarks Jules Pretty has created a new literary form within nature writing. 'Murmuration Realism' might be the term that captures his technique of using words to create place-based shapes, patterns, and rhythms in the mind of a reader. Readers can dwell intimately in the time and spaces of a place they may never have actually seen. Concatenations of words and concepts take to the air like a thousand starlings, and Pretty orchestrates them so that they form organic unity and come alive. In the heartbeat of a full calendar year, he creates a phenology of place for us, yet, at the same time, we know it creates him. To be able to walk on the bridge between the objective and the subjective is a rare treat. Jules Pretty, in The East Country, gives you the opportunity to stand on that bridge and drink in the wonder of it all. --Glenn A. Albrecht, University of Sydney The East Country is a marvelous book. There is something mystical about it, coming perhaps from the sense of reverence that Jules Pretty accords the natural world. It gives the sense of a prose poem, a song of praise for a world that is vanishing. --Astrid E. J. Ogilvie, coeditor of The Iceberg in the Mist The East Country is a brave and visionary book. Jules Pretty's writing is clear and strong, and the questions he raises about our relationship with the natural world and our capacity to cultivate a real sense of place are of the greatest importance. --Douglas E. Christie, author of The Blue Sapphire of the Mind The East Country, like all accomplished works of close ecological focus, moves cleverly between the intensely local and the universal. Jules Pretty unites his two distinguished careers--as a biologist and as a writer in the broad fields of nature, place and landscape--to encourage 'long attachments to the local' as profoundly valuable undertakings. --Robert Macfarlane, author of The Old Ways and Landmarks

I'm in step with Prof Jules Pretty. Who wouldn't be, when he rightly recognises the link between a healthy natural world and good mental health in humans - and trumpets the message? Like him, I love getting outdoors to feel the sun (and rain) on my skin and notice the different rhythm. You could say I've bought the T-shirt along with the waterproof walking boots and warm coat. -- Steve Russell * The East Anglian Daily Times * His celebration of the landscape incorporates memoir and poetry, natural history and spiritual reflection, but also a critique of where current policies are leading us. 'Nature will carry on regardless,' he suggest. 'It is just that we might not.' -- Matthew Reisz * Times Higher Education *

The East Country, like all accomplished works of close ecological focus, moves cleverly between the intensely local and the universal. Jules Pretty unites his two distinguished careers-as a biologist and as a writer in the broad fields of nature, place and landscape-to encourage `long attachments to the local' as profoundly valuable undertakings. -- Robert Macfarlane, author of <I>The Old Ways</I> and <I>Landmarks</I> The East Country is a brave and visionary book. Jules Pretty's writing is clear and strong, and the questions he raises about our relationship with the natural world and our capacity to cultivate a real sense of place are of the greatest importance. -- Douglas E. Christie, author of <I>The Blue Sapphire of the Mind</I> The East Country is a marvelous book. There is something mystical about it, coming perhaps from the sense of reverence that Jules Pretty accords the natural world. It gives the sense of a prose poem, a song of praise for a world that is vanishing. -- Astrid E. J. Ogilvie, coeditor of <I> The Iceberg in the Mist</I> Jules Pretty has created a new literary form within nature writing. `Murmuration Realism' might be the term that captures his technique of using words to create place-based shapes, patterns, and rhythms in the mind of a reader. Readers can dwell intimately in the time and spaces of a place they may never have actually seen. Concatenations of words and concepts take to the air like a thousand starlings, and Pretty orchestrates them so that they form organic unity and come alive. In the heartbeat of a full calendar year, he creates a phenology of place for us, yet, at the same time, we know it creates him. To be able to walk on the bridge between the objective and the subjective is a rare treat. Jules Pretty, in The East Country, gives you the opportunity to stand on that bridge and drink in the wonder of it all. -- Glenn A. Albrecht, University of Sydney

Author Information

Jules Pretty is Professor of Environment and Society at the University of Essex. He is the author of many books, including The Edge of Extinction and This Luminous Coast, both from Cornell, and The Earth Only Endures. He is coeditor most recently of Green Exercise.

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