Paul Lester Errington

Errington is a worthy entry in the canon of nature writing. Of Men and Marshes explores the complexity of humans' relationship to nature and contributes to an ongoing conversation about how we can coexist.

I had two issues with the book, however. First, unlike Aldo Leopold or Sigurd Olson, Errington does not go into great detail with his descriptions of wildlife. He describes animal habits and the ecological connections between different organism but fails to tell readers what certain things look like. He wanted to appeal to an audience without his hunter's, trapper's, and naturalist's experience, and I believe his assumption that readers can picture what he sees is why he did not experience as much success as his friend Leopold. Second, Errington's book is centered in the Iowa/South Dakota/Minnesota region, and his knowledge of marshes outside of that region is limited. Errington paid lip service to marshes as far south as Louisiana, as far west as Utah, and as far north as Canada, but never once enters the Great Lakes region. I think he needed to make a decision to either rigidly stay in the central region (like Leopold did with Wisconsin and Olson with Minnesota) or more inclusively explore other areas.

The illustrations are lovely.… (altro)