Annals of the Former World: Basin and Range; In Suspect Terrain; Rising from the Plains; Assembling California; Crossing the Craton

696, [5] pp. A compilation of McPhee's five famous works on geology The first two works, Basin and Range and In Suspect Terrain, were originally paired together in a boxed set in 1983. This edition also includes Rising from the Plains and Assembling Calfornia, which were published in 1986 and 1993, respectively, as well as an essay, Crossing the Craton, which is not available in any separate publication. A desirable edition of these important works. The Pulitzer Prize-winning view of the continent, across the fortieth parallel and down through 4.6 billion years. Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross section of North America at about the fortieth parallel and, in the process, come to an understanding not only of the science but of the style of the geologists he traveled with. The structure of the book never changed, but its breadth caused him to complete it in stages, under the overall title Annals of the Former World. Like the terrain it covers, Annals of the Former World tells a multilayered tale, and the reader may choose one of many paths through it. As clearly and succinctly written as it is profoundly informed, this is our finest popular survey of geology and a masterpiece of modern nonfiction. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: "John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer widely considered one of the pioneers of narrative nonfiction. Unlike Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson, who helped kick-start the "new journalism" which, in the 1960s, revolutionized nonfiction, McPhee produced a gentler style of literary journalism by incorporating techniques from novels and other forms of fiction. McPhee avoided the attention-grabbing streams of consciousness of Wolfe and Thompson, but his detailed description of characters, insatiable appetite for details, and masterful style make his writing lively, readable, and personal, even when it focuses on obscure or difficult topics." -- Wikipedia