John Hay is recognized by many as a preeminent force and voice in nature writing and regional nonfiction of the twentieth century. He is identified with Cape Cod, where he lives and has written and where he has remained active in environmental politics. Despite his lengthy publication record, which spans more than sixty years, Hay's emphasis on subjects immediate, focused, and local has led to his work at times being overlooked by literary scholars. Still, critics and writers identify his work as being significant in furthering an American tradition that links personal experience to close observation of the natural world. Hay's writing has always found an audience, and he is recognized by Annie Dillard as "of the world's handful of very great nature writers." For many, he is the voice of nature and environmental conscience in the Atlantic Northeast, communicating in his work his deeply personal experience of...