Nature writing is a well established tradition in American literature, yet the label has in recent years come to be considered one-dimensional and even a little quaint by 'serious' writers and 'real' scientists. Many of the best nature writers are not trained ecologists and ecology is supposed to have out-grown natural history. Intellectuals belittle the popularity of nature writing and see themselves as beyond the backwoods genre.

Still, the American public continues to gain much of its understanding and awareness of natural systems, of environmental issues, and of humanity's threat to wild species and places from the best and most popular of the nature writers—Edwin Way Teale, Annie Dillard, Terry Tempest Williams...and David Quammen. Part of the exposure comes from the fact that many of these writers make a good part of their living by lecturing and 'reading'...