Wandering in American Deserts

Whether or not we have ever visited a desert, we all carry within us our imagined Saharas-dry, harsh and barren, wastelands of unremitting emptiness. But once we step foot in one, we find something else-vast spaces filled with life, beauty and serenity; perhaps mysticism, in the way of all spiritual seekers; perhaps sacred connections to ancestors, in the way of Native Americans.

In America, deserts comprise so much of our country-Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California-that once we go there, we encounter no wasteland, but a staggering variety of landscapes, animal life, plants and geographical and human history that leave trails for us to follow into the present.

In this 9th volume of the beloved Wanderland Writers series, contributors explore the salt basins, the shifting sands, the sunbaked plateaus, the starry-starry nights of American deserts. What they find-shamans, fault lines, bird singers, and both hidden and not-so-hidden treasures-is sometimes mystifying, often satisfying, and always surprising as landscapes slip, slide and shape-shift around them. It may not be settling, but it certainly sets the stage for a deeper understanding of what the American desert and, by extension, the planet we inhabit, have to teach us about ourselves and our place in our rapidly changing, sometimes confounding world.