FROM THE ISLAND’S EDGE: A Sitka Reader...

FROM THE ISLAND’S EDGE: A Sitka Reader edited by Carolyn Servid (Graywolf Press: $15; 281 pp., paperback original). This anthology from the annual Sitka Symposium on Human Values and the Written Word includes work by Barry Lopez, William Kittredge and Gary Paul Nabham. Many of the authors focus on the need for humans to maintain a genuine sense of connection with the place they inhabit. Lamenting the artificiality of contemporary American life, John Haines declares, “What is missing, and for some time now, is delight, that sense of delight in discovery that renews everything and keeps the world fresh. . . . And in our terrible world the original, the instinctive awe and mystery, become in time a matter of nostalgic and of scenic views.” Unfortunately, the stronger articles are balanced against the weaker work of writers advancing dubious personal agendas.