The Saving Grace of America's Green Jeremiad

American environmental literature characteristically embodies an appreciative, lyrical evocation of the natural world. But conservation-minded authors have often been moved to dramatize diverse, anthropogenic perils to environmental preservation. John Gatta freshly reveals how this darker strain of environmental writing enlarges upon a jeremiad tradition of prophecy inherited from Puritan New England. In the spirit of ancient Hebrew prophecy, jeremiads reach beyond effusions of doom and gloom toward prospects of renewal through a conversion of heart. Accordingly, writing steeped in what Gatta terms this “Green Jeremiad” tradition not only warns of material perils but incorporates a spiritual, existential layer of meaning.