Booknotes | MNA Recommended Reading Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors Carolyn Finney University of North Carolina Press Paperback, $27.95
Why are African Americans so underrepresented when it comes to interest in nature, outdoor recreation, and environmentalism? Carolyn Finney looks beyond the discourse of the environmental justice movement to examine how the natural environment has been understood, commodified, and represented by both white and black Americans. She argues that the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and racial violence have shaped cultural understandings of the “great outdoors” and determined who should and can have access to natural spaces. Drawing on a variety of sources from film, literature, and popular culture, and analyzing different historical moments, including the establishment of the Wilderness Act in 1964 and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Finney reveals the perceived and real ways in which nature and the environment are racialized in America. Looking toward the future, she also highlights the work of African Americans who are opening doors to greater participation in environmental and conservation concerns.
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures Merlin Sheldrake Random House Hardcover, $28
When we think of fungi, we likely think of mushrooms. But mushrooms are only fruiting bodies, analogous to apples on a tree. Most fungi live out of sight, yet make up a massively diverse kingdom of organisms that supports and sustains nearly all living systems. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel, and behave. Fungi throw our concepts of individuality and even intelligence into question. They are metabolic masters, earth makers, and key players in most of life’s processes. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disaster. By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms - and our relationships with them - are changing our understanding of how life works.
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michigan nature| summer 2021
New & Noteworthy The Star in the Sycamore Tom Springer Arbutus Press Paperback, $17.95
In the “wild nearby,” we can still discover places rich in natural mysteries. Through a collection of essays organized by seasonswithin-the-seasons, Tom Springer finds them in secret urban fishing holes, motherly old trees and even the curious link between stars, trees and souls.
World of Wonders
Aimee Nezhukumatathil Milkweed Editions Hardcover, $25 From beloved, award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil comes a debut work of nonfiction—a collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us.
Wolf Island
L. David Mech and Greg Breining University of Minnesota Press Hardcover, $24.95 Wolf Island recounts three extraordinary summers and winters Mech spent on Isle Royale National Park, tracking and observing wolves and moose on foot and by airplane - and upending the common misperception of wolves as destructive killers of insatiable appetite.
