The Glorians - by Terry Tempest Williams (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"Williams is a master . . . She gives us a reason to follow her example: refusing to look away from the degradation, in hopes of preserving the wild places we have left."--Outside Magazine

From the acclaimed nature writer and New York Times bestselling author, a revelatory work of narrative nonfiction exploring beauty, climate change, and transformative moments of hope in a world beset by uncertainty

Whether we believe it or not, rapid change is upon us. I am searching for grace.

In this time of political fragility, climate chaos, and seeking hope wherever we can find its glimmer, Terry Tempest Williams introduces us to the Glorians. They are not distant deities, but the ordinary, often overlooked presences--animal, plant, memory, moment--that reveal our shared vulnerability and interconnectedness with the natural world. The Glorians can be as small as an ant ferrying a coyote willow blossom to its queen or as commonplace as the night sky. But what they can collectively teach us--about the radical act of attending to beauty and carrying forward against all odds--is immense.

Journeying through encounters with the Glorians in the red rock desert of Utah during the pandemic to Harvard University where she teaches in the Divinity School, Williams weaves a story of astonishing personal and societal insight. As she grapples with the unsettled state of the world, she turns not to despair but to deep reflection. She sees how the Glorians are calling us all to attention, not as an army, but as fellow inhabitants of our sacred, threatened home. They remind us of the power of contact between species and the profound courage--and awareness--it will take to dream a more cohesive future into being.

Wise and lyrical, The Glorians is a testament to the power of witness, a field guide to finding grace in the unexpected, and a moving invitation to engage with one another and our surroundings with renewed intention. In a modern world filled with increasing noise and anxiety, Terry Tempest Williams offers honest sustenance for the mind and spirit and distinguishes herself again as a trusted voice to whom we can turn to more fully understand our times.

Review Quotes

Praise for Erosion:

"If Williams's haunting, powerful and brave book can be summed up in one line of advice it would be this: try to stare down the grief of everyday life, speak out and find solace in the boundless beauty of nature."--New York Times Book Review

"If you're reading Terry Tempest Williams for the first time, you are meeting an impassioned conservationist who can take her place in the environmental pantheon alongside Rachel Carson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Rebecca Solnit . . . A talented writer who fuses soul to scholarship."--Washington Independent Review of Books

Praise for The Hour of Land:

"The Hour of Land is one of the best nature books I've read in years, filled with seductive prose . . . It's impossible to do Williams's thought-provoking insights and evocative images justice in a short review. My only advice is to read the book. And then read it again, with pen in hand. And then visit a national park, because as Williams reminds us, they are 'portals and thresholds of wonder, ' the 'breathing spaces for a society that increasingly holds its breath.'"--New York Times Book Review

"Whether contemplating the spiritual life she finds 'inside the heart of the wild' or marveling at the peaks and monuments that comprise 'our best idea' - the National Parks system - Williams movingly urges us to remember that 'heaven is here.'" ―O Magazine

Praise for When Women Were Birds:

"Williams displays a Whitmanesque embrace of the world and its contradictions . . . As the pages accumulate, her voice grows in majesty and power until it become a full-fledged aria."--San Francisco Chronicle

"This poetic memoir continues the work Williams began in Refuge . . . Williams explores her mother's identity - woman, wife, mother, and Mormon - as she continues to honor her memory . . . A lyrical and elliptical meditation on women, nature, family, and history."--Boston Globe

Praise for Refuge:

"There has never been a book like Refuge, an entirely original yet tragically common story, brought exquisitely to life."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Moving and loving . . . both a natural history of an ecological phenomenon [and] a Mormon family saga . . . A heroic book."--The Washington Post Book World

About the Author

Terry Tempest Williams is the award-winning author of seventeen books of creative nonfiction, including the environmental classic, Refuge - An Unnatural History of Family and Place. Among her other books are Leap; Finding Beauty in a Broken World; When Women Were Birds; The Hour of Land - A Personal Topography of America's National Parks; and Erosion - Essays of Undoing. Her work has been translated and anthologized worldwide. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters and is currently the writer-in-residence at the Harvard Divinity School. She divides her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts and Castle Valley, Utah.