Brave New World (1932), Aldous Huxley’s vision of a dystopian future, is counterbalanced 30 years later by Huxley’s final novel, Island (1962), which was about an ecotopia. He uses Pala, the novel’s ecotopian island paradise, to show readers a vision of an alternative way of life characterized by sustainable ecological practices and a high standard of living. It is a rare novel that depicts such a hopeful vision of a different way of living, and a welcome change from the usual dystopian fare.

Timothy Egan’s well-researched book about the dust storms of the 1930s, The Worst Hard Time, is a history of the nation’s greatest environmental disaster. The main focus is 1929–1939 and the mismanagement of the land. Egan tells the stories of six families that moved to the high plains. These stories are told in narrative form based on careful research of historical records, interviews, and diary entries. It is fascinating and heartbreaking.

World of Wonders (2020) is a collection of brief nature memoir essays by poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil, accompanied by illustrations by Fumi Mini Nakamura. Subtitled “In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments,” the essays draw connections between the author’s life experiences and a wide range of flora and fauna, many of which are rare or endangered, and about which the essays often include interesting biological and botanical facts.