The Hour of Land

A Personal Topography of America's National Parks

By: Terry Tempest Williams

Narrated by: Terry Williams

For years, America's national parks have provided public breathing spaces in a world in which such spaces are steadily disappearing, which is why close to 300 million people visit the parks each year. Now, to honor the centennial of the National Park Service, Terry Tempest Williams, the author of the beloved memoir When Women Were Birds, returns with The Hour of Land, a literary celebration of our national parks, what they mean to us, and what we mean to them.

Through 12 carefully chosen parks, from Yellowstone in Wyoming to Acadia in Maine to Big Bend in Texas, Tempest Williams creates a series of lyrical portraits that illuminate the unique grandeur of each place while delving into what it means to shape a landscape with its own evolutionary history into something of our own making. Part memoir, part natural history, and part social critique, The Hour of Land is a meditation and manifesto on why wild lands matter to the soul of America. Our national parks stand at the intersection of humanity and wildness, and there's no one better than Tempest Williams to guide us there.

©2016 Terry Tempest Williams (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[T]his is a uniquely evocative, illuminating, profound, poignant, beautiful, courageous, and clarion book about the true significance of our national parks." ( Booklist)

Inspiring Homage to Our Public Lands

Terry Tempest Williams is a master story teller. Her ability to interweave her love of natural history with very personal and compelling stories of community, family and growing up in the arid western United States is awe inspiring. Read by Terry herself in her soothing and mesmerizing voice, The Hour of Land fills listeners with wonder, delight, compassion and curiosity as she takes us on a nationwide adventure exploring the many insights and gifts that can come from interacting with our public lands. This is not your typical family road trip. Terry’s deep ecological knowledge, and ability to listen deeply to place brings to life the many undiscovered jewels found in both the well and lesser known destinations that make up our unparalleled National Park system. This book is both a love letter and a rallying cry to protect this precious national treasure so that many generations to come will continue to have access to these diverse landscapes and the wisdom of the human and non-human stories they hold. In these times when public lands are under assault, Terry’s wise words remind us what is at stake should we lose these lands and offer inspirational anecdotes for how we can ensure they persist.

Cultural Cross Sections

This book needs to be adopted as required reading up among the ranks with Abbey, Carson, Leopold, Powell, and too many other great American authors who advocate for the necessary preservation of our cultures last stand for wholesome connectivity. A simply fantastic read.

A lullaby for the soul

The author brings the listener along on a journey through the history and (nearly) current day of the National Park Service and twelve of our national parks. Written while Barack Obama was still President of the US, some bits of the book speak to earlier times. The language is narrative but feels like poetry, captivating. The authors voice is gentle, evoking the sense of lullaby for the soul, a passage to peacefulness that many of us find when out in nature.

Powerful, critical, beautifully written.

This will quickly become one of the most important books about how we, as a human race must Chang how we live on this planet.

Twrry

Best audio book I've ever experienced.

What did you love best about The Hour of Land?

The writing - Terry's words ring true in an incredibly poetic way

What did you like best about this story?

The emotional journey through so many places with different formats in each chapter.

Which character – as performed by Terry Williams – was your favorite?

Her father - at Big Bend and the superintendent that led them through the park.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Awe is the moment when ego surrenders to wonder.

Any additional comments?

This book is especially important to anyone who loves and wants to protect our environment.