The Rock Cycle: Essays (River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize)

The past is a living thing, palpable as the weather. In this collection of essays, Kevin Honold explores themes of history and its fading significance in modern American life. "Remembrance is morbid, unprofitable," he writes. "It's impractical, impolite in certain company." These words remind us that maintaining a sense of the historical past is crucial to maintaining one's humanity in the face of our often dehumanizing political and economic systems. The Rock Cycle delves into memory and into the spaces of history, especially the deserts of the American Southwest. This landscape provides a stage, stripped of all distraction, where a person comes face to face with themselves. With contemplations on religions, philosophies, works of literature, and the land, Honold examines what it means to be oneself within the world.