The best known and most beloved work of literary pioneer Mary Austin 1903sThe Land of Little Rain is a collection of 14 vignettes paying poetic homageto the ari... » 

The best known and most beloved work of literary pioneer Mary Austin 1903sThe Land of Little Rain is a collection of 14 vignettes paying poetic homageto the arid beauty of the lands of Death Valley and the Mojave. An amateurnaturalist and a keen observer of human influence on the landscape Austin hereintroduces us in her inimitable way to the wildlife the people and theunique problems and attractions of these sandy reaches in such essays as TheMesa Trail Shoshone Land Water Borders Nurslings of the Sky andothers. The author herself believed that she had done for the desert whatThoreau did for New England. Lovers of natural philosophy are sure to agree.American author MARY HUNTER AUSTIN 18681934 wrote numerous novels poemsplays and works of criticism much of it centered on feminist environmentaland multicultural issues. She is best remembered for her writing on mattersconcerning Native American rights and the deserts of the American Southwest. «