Flight Maps: Adventure with Nature in Modern America Book

In her award-winning Yale PhD dissertation turned mainstream hardcover, essayist Jennifer Price methodically accounts for the fall of the passenger pigeon, the rise of the pink lawn flamingo, the propagation of nature-themed shopping centre stores in the US, and what all this has to do with modern humanity's relationship to nature. Primarily a smart meditation for babyboomers on why a Volvo can't save your soul and why the name "Nature Company" should seem ironic, Flight Maps is a long, scholarly riff on how nature has evolved into a "Place Apart" that we fumble to revisit and recapture, with everything from Toyota 4-Runners to Rainforest Crunch candy. Price's observations centre around how our actions, our beliefs, and--especially--our purchases betray an idealised but conflicted view of nature, as both an undiluted source of "Realness," but also as a difficult-to-connect-with abstraction, often mangled by our embrace. Flight Maps traces these attitudes back to 19th-century America, recounting the extinction of passenger pigeons, the controversy over bird-topped women's hats, and the faltering first steps of early conservation groups. The book's second and best half, though, covers the present, from John Waters' flicks to nature's place in the mall. Price's just-jaded-enough sense of humour combined with her academic rigor perfectly skewers the likes of Northern Exposure's $5,000-a-day moose and stress-relief products from the Nature Company's catalogue (delivered in perfect deadpan: "Pachelbel Canon in D Blended with the Eternal Sound of the Sea--Creates a tranquil atmosphere for quiet meditation. CD $16.98"). --Paul Hughes, Amazon.comRead More