The Edges of the Civilized World: A Journey in Nature and Culture

Troubled by tensions that inevitably arise when civilization intrudes upon wild regions, Alison Hawthorne Deming visited some of our continent's most remote areas to answer questions that had long been on her mind. In the absence of vast frontiers, can we manage our ever-increasing numbers? How can we strike a balance with a natural world that we threaten by our very presence? With the language of a poet and the eye of a scientist, Alison Hawthorne Deming presents us with the difficult challenge of redefining our traditional notion of cultural progress and thinking of our future in new terms.