Chicago Botanic Garden

Education — Lenhardt Library

Current Books & Book Reviews

PHOTO: bookcover

Susan Fenimore Cooper.
Essays on Nature and Landscape.
Edited by Rochelle Johnson and Daniel Patterson.
Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2002.
paper, 131 p., ISBN 0-820-32422-1, $19.95.

These essays, written in a formal style seldom seen today, should be required reading for anyone interested in nature. Susan Fenimore Cooper's dedication to her own local natural history and community is wonderful, even inspirational.

These essays by the daughter of distinguished naturalist James Fenimore Cooper are fascinating as examples of nature writing, since many of the problems described a century and a half ago are still with us. For example, the author writes, "Twenty years ago, robins, wrens, cat-birds, and hummingbirds, and, indeed, the whole summer flock, were certainly more numerous than they are to-day. Some observors believe that the number of summer birds has diminished more than half. The same species are still with us, but how long will they remain ... " These comments could still be made today.

Daniel Patterson, one of the editors, provides a good introduction, giving a context for the essays. With this information, Susan Fenimore Cooper's essays are all the more insightful.

— Barbara G. Mahany, Volunteer, Library, Chicago Botanic Garden.