A Sand County Almanac
Published in 1949, shortly after the author's death, A Sand County Almanacis a classic of nature writing, widely cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published. Writing from the vantage of his summer shack along the banks of the Wisconsin River, Leopold mixes essay, polemic, and memoir in his book's pages. In one famous episode, he writes of killing a female wolf early in his career as a forest ranger, coming upon his victim just as she was dying, "in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes.... I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view." Leopold's road-to-Damascus change of view would find its fruit some years later in his so-called land ethic, in which he held that nothing that disturbs the balance of nature is right. Much of Almanacelaborates on this basic premise, as well as on Leopold's view that it is something of a human duty to preserve as much wild land as possible, as a kind of bank for the biological future of all species. Beautifully written, quiet, and elegant, Leopold's book deserves continued study and discussion today. --Gregory McNamee Contents I. A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC January: January Thaw February: Good oak March: The geese return April: Come high water. Draba. Bur Oak. Sky dance. May: Back from the Argentine June: The alder fork July: Great possessions. Prairie breakfast. August: The green pasture September: The choral copse October: Smoky gold. Too early. Red lanterns. November: If I were the wind. Axe-in-hand. A mighty fortress. December: Home range. Pines above the snow. 65290. II. THE QUALITY OF A LANDSCAPE Wisconsin: Marshland elegy. The sand counties. Odyssey. On a Monument to the Pigeon. Flambeau. Deadening. Illinois and Iowa: Illinois bus ride. Red legs kicking. Arizona and New Mexico: On top. Thinking like a mountain. Escudilla. Chihuahua and Sonora: Guacamaja. The green lagoons. Son of the Gavilan. Oregon and Utah: Cheat takes over. Manitoba: Clandeboye. III: A TASTE FOR THE COUNTRY Country A man's leisure time The Round River - A parable Natural History Wildlife in American culture The deer swath Goose music IV: THE UPSHOT The land ethic Wilderness Conservation esthetic