Home Ground: Language for an American LandscapeBarry Holstun Lopez "Home Ground brings together, for the first time, the distinctly American vocabulary that people use to characterize the country's landscape. Forty-five writers, with backgrounds and imaginations as different as journalist Bill McKibben's and novelist Barbara Kingsolver's, have crafted more than 850 definitions for words like vega and trace. And flatiron, bayou, milk gap, and looking-glass prairie. What emerges from their work, however, is more than accurate definitions and their individual approaches to each of these words. It's more than learning that lake is also a color, and that those islands of lush growth in the midst of a new lava flow are called kipukas. It's more than learning that Peekskill, New York, probably took its name from the farm the Peek family established on a hill in that area. It's discovering, in the process, the way this unique landscape has shaped American character. When we speak of things like canyons, waterfalls, and prairies, we are talking about our history. When we use a word like gulch or monadnock, or an expression like Carolina hay or desire path, we are evoking something distinctive in our culture." "Home Ground is an invitation to learn American geography, to read American history, and to celebrate a deeply engaging dimension of American character."--BOOK JACKET. |
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Common terms and phrases
Alaska American animals ARTHUR SZE bank BARRY LOPEZ basin beach boulders California called Canyon cave channel cliff coast coastal Colorado created creek debris deep deposits describe desert drainage dune earth edge EMILY HIESTAND eroded erosion example feet flat flood flow forest geologic glacial glacier grass ground hills hole island JAN DEBLIEU John JOHN KEEBLE JON KRAKAUER KIM STAFFORD lake land landforms landscape LARRY WOIWODE lava layer LUIS ALBERTO URREA meadow meander means Mexico miles mineral Mississippi mound mountain narrow North ocean Oregon PATRICIA HAMPL PATTIANN ROGERS plain plants pond pools prairie range refers region ridge rise river ROBERT MICHAEL PYLE rock rocky sand sandstone sediment shallow shape shore side slope snow soil sometimes South Spanish spring steep stone stream surface swamp term terrain TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS Texas trail trees valley volcanic wall waves West wetland wind word