Anthony Wilson is an Associate Professor of English at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. He is the author of Shadow and Shelter: The Swamp in Southern Culture (2006).
"""This beautifully illustrated volume is one of a series, entitled Earth, which addresses the importance of both historical and cultural depictions of nature and its resources. The series augments the interconnectedness of ecosystems and humanity, and Wilson's work fits well into this oeuvre because it explores the deadly legends and superstitions that are associated with swamps. Avoiding a didactic approach when highlighting their threatened status, Swamp raises awareness of the significance of preserving these wetlands by offering an accessible insight into real and fictional imagery of swamps, bogs, and marshes. . . . The book gives a fascinating insight into the lives of those who have lived in swamp environments throughout different time periods across the globe. . . . Wilson satisfyingly takes us through a journey of the swamp 'from poisonous hell to unspoiled Eden.'""-- ""Folklore"" ""Wide-ranging. . . . Though more a cultural treatise than a scientific one, this is nonetheless a valuable resource for college and university collections. Recommended.""-- ""Choice"" ""Swamps, once deemed tangles of putrefaction and peril, are only now receiving the respect they deserve. That's the dramatic arc of this beautifully illustrated social and literary history of wetlands.""--Laurence A. Marschall ""Natural History"""