Land of Little Rain, The

By Austin, Mary Hunter

Book Id: WPLBN0002952764
Format Type:
File Size: 124.37 MB
Reproduction Date: 2011

Title:	Land of Little Rain, The
Author:	Austin, Mary Hunter
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non-fiction, Animals, Nature
Collections:	Audio Books Collection, Land of Little Rain, The
Historic Publication Date:	1903
Publisher:	LibriVox Audio Books


Citation APA MLA Chicago Hunter Austin, B. M. (1903). Land of Little Rain, The. Retrieved from http://www.self.gutenberg.org/

Description
The Land of Little Rain is a book of sketches which portray the high desert country of southern California, where the Sierras descend into the Mojave Desert. Mary Austin finds beauty in the harsh landscape: This is the sense of the desert hills--that there is room enough and time enough. . . The treeless spaces uncramp the soul. Her story begins with the water trails that lead toward the few life giving springs--the way marked for men by ancient Indian pictographs. Life and death play out at these springs. Rabbits fall prey to the coyote; buzzards hang heavily in the sky above. She then writes of individuals who eke out their living in this land of scarce resources--an itinerant gold prospector, a sheepherder, a blind Indian basket maker. Austin's spare prose creates unforgettable vignettes: Choose a hill country for storms. . . I remember one night of thunderous rain made unendurably mournful by the houseless cry of a cougar whose lair, and perhaps his family, had been buried under a slide of broken boulders . . . Anyone who sees beauty in the Southwestern deserts, or who just enjoys good nature writing, will savor The Land of Little Rain. ( Summary by Sue Anderson )

Summary
Electronic recorded live performance of a reading

Excerpt
Animals, Nature, Travel