Midway through an essay about New York rodeos and midnight cowboys, Edward Hoagland remarks that "writers can be categorized by many criteria, one of which is whether they prefer subject matter that they rejoice in or subject matter they deplore and wish to savage with ironies. Since I'm of the first type …" Indeed he is. Here [in "The Courage of Turtles"] are fifteen essays about matters that either delight Hoagland or make him curious….

He is a marvelous writer….

"The Courage of Turtles" is not to be taken as a collection of bits and pieces written over the years. Rather it should be read as the first look back by a man in his late 30s…. Hoagland remarkably combines the observer's clear sense with the self-revealing passion of a man who has been "bottled up" too long. His image is apt, for Hoagland stutters terribly, and that fact...