Islands of Abandonment
Life in the Post-Human Landscape
by Cal Flyn
- Publication
- First published 2021
- ISBNs
- 9780008329785, 9780008329778, 9780008329808
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As if Annie Dillard walked into THE WORLD WITHOUT US: a beautiful, lyrical exploration of the places where nature is flourishing in our absence Some of the only truly feral cattle in the world wander a long-abandoned island off the northernmost tip of Scotland. A variety of wildlife not seen in many lifetimes has rebounded on the irradiated grounds of Chernobyl. A lush forest supports thousands of species that are extinct or endangered everywhere else on earth in the Korean peninsula's narrow DMZ. Cal Flyn, an investigative journalist, exceptional nature writer, and promising new literary voice visits the eeriest and most desolate places on Earth that due to war, disaster, disease, or economic decay, have been abandoned by humans. What she finds every time is an "island" of teeming new life: nature has rushed in to fill the void faster and more thoroughly than even the most hopeful projections of scientists. ISLANDS OF ABANDONMENT is a tour through these new ecosystems, in all their glory, as sites of unexpected environmental significance, where the natural world has reasserted its wild power and promise.
Prize history
- Shortlist
