Engl 5750 Seminar in American Lit:
Environmental Writing, Spring 2026
[ Policies ] [ Calendar ] [ Online Readings ]
Online Readings
last update: January 8, 2026
This
page includes supplemental course readings, all compiled here in one place,
arranged alphabetically by author. For weekly reading assignments, see
"Calendar," above.
I. General
Interest, Various Genres
- David
Abram. "Magic and the Machine." Emergence Magazine, Oct 17,
2018. emergencemagazine.org/essay/magic-and-the-machine/
-
Christina Cauterucci. "The Old Climate-Activism Playbook No Longer Works.
What Else Can?" [featuring Bill McKibben]. The
New York Times Magazine, Sep 5, 2025. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/magazine/climate-change-activism-renewable-energy.html - faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/250906_climate_change_mckibben_nytimes.pdf
- John
Green. "Humanity's Temporal Range." The Anthropocene Reviewed:
Essays on a Human-Centered Planet. Penguin, 2021. Pages 13-23. (Originally
appeared as a podcast episode, WNYC Studios, March 26, 2020. Runtime: 22:49. www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anthropocene-reviewed/episodes/anthropocene-reviewed-humanitys-temporal-range.)
- David
George Haskell. "Cottonwood." The Songs of Trees: Stories from
Nature's Great Connectors. Penguin, 2018. Pages 163-188. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/cottonwood_haskell.pdf
-
Jeremy B. Jones. Excerpt--chaps. 37-41. Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor's
Scandalous Secret Diaries. Blair, 2025. Pages 204-234. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/cipher_excerpt.pdf
- Robin
Wall Kimmerer. "The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance." Emergence
Magazine, October 26, 2022. emergencemagazine.org/essay/the-serviceberry/
- Bill
McKibben. "Introduction." Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for
the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization. Norton, 2025. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/intro_here_comes_the_sun.pdf
-
Courtney Desiree Morris. "Acid Church: A queer psychedelic ramble through
the Crescent City." Stranger's Guide, May 2022. strangersguide.com/articles/queer-psychedelic-new-orleans/
- Kevin
E. O'Donnell. "Wallace Stevens' 'Anecdote of the Jar': Modernist Poetics
and the Industrial Logging of the Great Appalachian Forest." In Appalachian
Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place, ed. by Jessica Cory and Laura
Wright. University of Georgia Press, 2023. Pages 241-252. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/kod_on_wallace_stevens.pdf
-
Kathryn Schulz. "Pond Scum: The Moral Judgments of Henry David
Thoreau." The New Yorker, October 12, 2015. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/pond-scum - faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/schulz_on_thoreau_newyorker.pdf
- Amy
Wright. "Prey." The Kenyon Review, Mar/ Apr 2020. kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/2020-marapr/selections/amy-wright-656342/
- Amy
Wright. "Skein of Skin." Crab Orchard Review, Spring 2025. P ages
129-132. www.flipsnack.com/AB7B77BBDC9/spring-25-issue-launching-in-may/full-view.html - faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/skein_of_skin_amy_wright.pdf
II. Book
Reviews of Course Texts
The
End of Nature
-
"Mother Nature as a Hothouse Flower." [Review of Bill
McKibben's The End of Nature.] By David Graber. The Los Angeles
Times, October 22, 1989. articles.latimes.com/1989-10-22/books/bk-726_1_bill-mckibben
- "The Sky is Melting" [review of
Bill McKibben's The End of Nature]. By Nicholas Wade. The
New York Times, October 8, 1989. www.nytimes.com/1989/10/08/books/the-sky-is-melting.html - faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/review_endofnature_nytimes_1989.pdf
Flight
Behavior
-
"The Butterfly Effect: ‘Flight Behavior,’ by
Barbara Kingsolver." By Dominique Browning. The New York Times,
Sunday Book Review, November 9, 2012.
www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/books/review/flight-behavior-by-barbara-kingsolver.html. (Click here for a cached version.)
Serena
-
"Couple Creates an Empire by Felling Trees and Anyone in Their Way"
[review of Serena]. By Janet Maslin, The New York Times,
October 5, 2008. www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/books/06masl.html. (Click here for a cached version.)
-
"Review -- Serena by Ron Rash: Jay Parini is impressed by
a bloodthirsty tale of greed and the ruthless pursuit of power." The
Guardian [Manchester, UK], October 9, 2009. www.theguardian.com/books/2009/oct/10/serena-ron-rash-review
John
Green
-
Rebecca Robbins. "John Green Is Obsessed With
Tuberculosis. His New Book Explains Why." New York Times, March 20, 2025. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/books/review/john-green-everything-is-tuberculosis.html - faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/nytimes_review_of_tuberculosis.pdf
-
"John Green Is Not Writing in Code," by Elisabeth Egan, The New York
Times, June 10, 2021. www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/books/review/john-green-the-anthropocene-reviewed.html. (Click here for a cached version.)
-
"Author John Green Explores How to Live in Uncertainty in 'The
Anthropocene Reviewed'." By Adam Frank. National Public Radio, May 18,
2021. www.npr.org/2021/05/18/997793426/author-john-green-explores-how-to-live-in-uncertainty-in-the-anthropocene-review