"To live is to see," writes Edward Hoagland, and that credo has placed him consistently among this country's most distinguished essayists ever since "The Courage of Turtles" was published 12 years ago. In this fourth collection ["The Tugman's Passage"], he continues to range widely in his concerns. Bumpkin skeptic in the city, sure-footed urbanist in the woods, he sees as well as ever….

There is, in Hoagland's descriptive prose, such a comforting sense of place that in the altogether distressing event that I was actually forced to walk through a bear-infested forest, I would trust him to be my guide—that is, with my life. (p. 7)

Hoagland can be very good on people, too. "The boss on a construction project in Syria will work right alongside his men, whereas in Egypt there is much bowing and salaaming to the 'doctor' in a ministry office, the 'director' of a business...