About this item
Highlights
- In this searching memoir, Rick Bass describes how he first fell in love with theWest -- as a landscape, an idea, and a way of life.
- Author(s): Rick Bass
- 256 Pages
- Biography + Autobiography, Personal Memoirs
Description
About the Book
In this poignant look at the thirty-year journey of one of our country's great naturalist writers, Rick Bass describes how he fell in love with the mystique of the West--as a dramatic landscape, as an idea, and as a way of life. Bass grew up in the suburban sprawl of Houston, and after attending college in Utah he spent eight years working in Mississippi as a geologist, until one day he packed up and went in search of something visceral, true, and real. He found it in the remote Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana, where despite extensive logging not a single species has gone extinct since the last Ice Age.Bass has lived in "the Yaak" ever since, and in Why I Came West he chronicles his transformation into the writer, hunter, and environmental activist that he is today. He explains how the rugged, wild landscape smoothed out his own rough edges; attempts to define the appeal of the West that so transfixed him as a boy, a place of mountains and outlaws and continual rebirth; and tells of his own role as a reluctant activist--sometimes at odds with his own neighbors--unwilling to stand idly by and watch this treasured place disappear. Rick Bass is the author of many acclaimed books of nonfiction and fiction, including The Lives of Rocks, The Diezmo, and Winter.
Book Synopsis
In this searching memoir, Rick Bass describes how he first fell in love with theWest -- as a landscape, an idea, and a way of life. Bass grew up in the suburban sprawl of Houston, attended college in Utah, and spent eight years working as a geologist in Mississippi before packing up and heading west in pursuit of something visceral and true. He found it in the remote Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana, where despite extensive logging, not a single species has gone extinct since the last Ice Age. Bass has lived in the Yaak ever since, a place of mountains, outlaws, and continual rebirth that transformed him into the writer, hunter, and activist that he is today. The West Bass found is also home to deep-rooted philosophical conflicts that set neighbor against neighbor -- disputes that Bass has joined reluctantly, but necessarily, to defend and preserve the wilderness that he loves.From the Back Cover
"Rick Bass is one of the country s greatest and most reluctant activists." Los Angeles Times
In this searching memoir, Rick Bass describes how he first fell in love with the West as a landscape, an idea, and a way of life. Bass grew up in the suburban sprawl of Houston, attended college in Utah, and spent eight years working as a geologist in Mississippi before packing up and heading west in pursuit of something visceral and true. He found it in the remote Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana, where despite extensive logging not a single species has gone extinct since the last Ice Age.
Bass has lived in the Yaak ever since, a place of mountains, outlaws, and continual rebirth that transformed him into the writer, hunter, and activist that he is today. The West Bass found is also home to deep-rooted philosophical conflicts that set neighbor against neighbor--disputes that Bass has joined reluctantly, but necessarily, to defend and preserve the wilderness that he loves.
"This illuminating story of place and howit can transform a person is from one of the West s most prolific and talented writers"--Seattle Post Intelligencer
"A must-read for any environmental activist" The Oregonian
A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
Rick Bass is the author of many acclaimed books of nonfiction and fiction, including The Lives of Rocks, The Diezmo, and Winter.
"