Kerri Anne's Reviews > The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks

It feels fitting I read this beautiful book while spending a week nestled at the base of some of my favorite mountains, sitting next to and in a beloved alpine lake.

My favorite books are ones that make me think, teach me things, and remind me of my own deep, abiding, reverent connections to various wild and sacred places. They're books that spend time advocating for keeping places wild, that discuss and showcase increasingly important, earth-preserving conservation ethics. They're books that care about wild places staying wild for their own sake, as much as for the sake of future generations. They're books that instill a sense of wonder while also speaking openly and honestly about the dark history of our public lands (in this case: National Parks, many/most of which were created at the expense of Indigenous populations and their right to use and/or oversee the use of them).

This book isn't perfect (I'm never looking for perfect, for the record). Parts of it feel name-droppy (totally a word), and reading the section on Gettysburg was like crawling through a field filled with obstacles and dread (maybe that was intentional?), which I didn't particularly enjoy. But the majority of this book really spoke, whispered, shouted and sang to me, and for now it's firmly ensconced on my "must-read" shelf.

A "must-read" especially if, like me, you believe in wilderness for wilderness' sake, and are a lover/visitor/advocate of National Parks/public lands/a believer that sacred outdoor places need to remain protected above all else. And if you aren't already that person, maybe give this book a chance and see if it changes your mind even a little bit.

[Five stars for so much honest history peppered with personal essays on why wild places have always mattered, and why they matter now more than ever.]