From Where We Stand - by Deborah Tall (Paperback)

About the Book

"Originally published in a hardcover edition by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1993. John Hopkins Paperbacks edition, 1996"--Title page verso.

Book Synopsis

Why does a particular landscape move us? What is it that attaches us to a particular place? Tall's From Where We Stand is an eloquent exploration of the connections we have with places--and the loss to us if there are no such connections. A typically rootless child of several American suburbs, Tall set out to make a true home for herself in the landscape that circumstance had brought her--the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. In a mosaic of personal anecdotes, historical sketches, and lyrical meditations, she interweaves her own story with the story of this place and its people--from the Seneca Nation of the Iroquois, to European settlers, to the many utopians who sensed and were inspired by a spiritual resonance here. This edition includes an introduction by William Kittredge and a foreword by Stephen Kuusisto, both highlighting the book's significance and Tall's exquisite skill in tracing the relationship between homelands and storytelling.

Review Quotes

A worthy contribution to the growing field of landscape studies.. . . Like Thoreau, who claimed to have travelled much in Concord, the author of From Where We Stand has travelled much--widely and deeply--in the Finger Lakes.-- "New York History"

In the literature of place, Deborah Tall's book stands out for its delicacy, range of learning, and refreshing frankness.-- "Phillip Lopate"

There has been a spate of books nominally about finding a sense of place but more accurately described as quests for community, or for home. . . . The best of the lot is Tall's book about putting down roots in Geneva, New York.-- "Utne Reader"

About the Author

Deborah Tall (1951-2006) is the author of five collections of poetry, and two prose works -- a memoir of her life in rural Ireland in the 1970s, The Island of the White Cow, and a book-length lyric essay, A Family of Strangers, about history, silence and family secrets. For many years, she taught writing and literature at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and edited the literary journal Seneca Review.