A review worth reading: https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/04/12/the-hour-of-land-terry-tempest-williams...
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Subtitle: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks

This is a book I would not have picked up were it not for being a book-club selection. I share the author’s love of this country’s National Parks, and of nature in general. I recently visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park for the first time, and was particularly interested in reading the chapter on that park. And, looking at the index, I noticed several other parks I was eager to read about: Big Bend, Arcadia, Gettysburg, Alcatraz Island and Cesar Chavez National Monument.

Williams is a good writer, and there are times when her descriptions take the reader straight to the park she is visiting. Some of these passages are downright poetic. However …

Williams spent less time on the park itself and its natural and/or historic wonders than she did on a political agenda, whether that be the mistreatment of Native Americans or the disturbing fervor of Civil War re-enactors (especially those portraying the Rebel forces) or, most often, the shameful policies of the then-current administration (G W Bush) with respect to mineral and drilling rights for big oil. I don’t even disagree with her point of view, but it wasn’t what I expected or wanted from this book. So I give it a middle-of-the-road 3-star rating. ( )

I stumble across Tery Tempest Williams when reading Crossing to Safety by Wallace Steger. She had written the introduction to this story and I enjoyed her writing and decided that I need to read more of it. In my search I found this book; it interested as it appeared to be about our national parks.

The book was, in its own way about the parks; however, it had as much to do about the parks as Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire had to do with arches. I suddenly came to the realization that she was a prodigy of Cactus Ed with less sharp edges and had a lot in common with Ellen Meloy but with out the snarkiness. The writting is beautiful and reminds of Anne Dilliard's Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek. This is definitely not a book for everyone.
So what is the book about? It is in many ways a lament about what we have lost. There is not any wilderness left and the natural areas that we are trying to conserve are rapidly being destroyed by commercialism and/or bad government policies. She does not offer any real solutions to these problems.
The book is complex and there are times that she hits her readers with a sledge hammer, especially when it comes to the way native peoples were treated. My suggestion is to tighten ones belt and go on a wild ride. ( )

Beautiful writing about the natural world - our national parks are treasures.
Interesting history throughout about various parks also. ( )

I'm a person who really enjoys nature writing. The Hour of Land is about national parks and national historic sites, but it's not just waxing poetic about trees. I'm unfamiliar with Williams so I was unprepared for how very political this book is. Her views happen to align with mine as she talks about oil spills, reliance on fossil fuels, the states rights vs slavery context in which we frame Gettysburg, etc. I'd really like to read more by her! ( )