Desert Hawk Books

A Gathering of Stones

Journeys to the Edges of a Changing World

by Carol Ann Basset

"A Gathering of Stones is an intelligent, eloquent group of essays on modern cultural phenomena and their crises and dislocations; each subject and situation may be seen to stand for analogous others everywhere, and all are distinguished by clear, often lyrical prose. A very good book."-Peter Matthiessen

Drawing on her wide-ranging travels, from the Canadian Arctic to the Bío-Bío River in southern Chile to the deserts of the American Southwest, Carol Ann Bassett takes readers on an intimate journey into the communities, ceremonies, and lives of traditional peoples struggling to survive in the face of rapid change.

These evocative essays consider the changes occurring in some of the most remote places on earth, among some of the most isolated peoples: Tarahumara Indians in Mexico's Copper Canyon, Basque sheepherders in the Arizona mountains, the Basarwa or bushmen of the Kalahari, and the Mapuche Indians in southern Chile.

As much an inner journey as one to far-flung places, A Gathering of Stones shows the wisdom and fears of people living close to the land. With her lively curiosity and sensitivity toward the people she meets and comes to know, Bassett chronicles some of the world's last wild places and records rich cultures that are in danger of being lost forever. Readers interested in nature, indigenous peoples, and women's travel literature will welcome this original new voice.

About the Author
Carol Ann Bassett's work has appeared in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Mother Jones, Condé Nast Traveler, The Nation, and in anthologies of the best American nature writing. She is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. A Gathering of Stones is her first book.