Patrick D. Murphy is professor of English at the University of Central Florida.

Theoretically sophisticated yet refreshingly readable, this wide-ranging study of contemporary, mainly genre-based fiction (sci-fi, mystery, crime, pseudo-documentary) makes an important addition to previous writing on the contribution of literature to environmental education. Murphy's sympathetic but critical evaluation of the literary treatment of the simple life, urban development, nanotechnology, hurricanes, and other less predictable themes such as father-daughter relationships, not least in young adult fiction, is as innovative as his arguments for the potential of simulated and mediated experience to enhance environmental awareness and his advocacy of an allonational approach, replacing the nation state with smaller and larger units sharing vital environmental interests. The revelation of sometimes surprising subtleties and complexities will make encouraging and stimulating reading for all teachers of environmental literature. Murphy's book is a thoughtfully constructive engagement with the sobering critique of contemporary arrogance and the inspiring glimpses of alternatives present in contemporary American nature-oriented writing.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionPart 2 Climbing Through Conceptual FencesChapter 3 The Complexity of SimplicityChapter 4 Difference and Responsibility in Literary Alternatives to Nation StateChapter 5 Paradise or a Pair of Dice: Contradictions and Contingencies in Real and Virtual Terrains for Tomorrow's College StudentsChapter 6 Toward Transnational Ecocritical Theory: The Example of Hwa Yol JungPart 7 Surveying the Boundaries of GenreChapter 8 Nature in the Contemporary American NovelChapter 9 The Non-alibi of Alien Scapes: SF and EcocriticismChapter 10 The Non-alibi of Pragmatic Utopianism and Wild Variability; or, Optimistic Variations on a Science Fiction ThemeChapter 11 Mysteries of Nature and Environmental JusticePart 12 Culturally Crossing the FieldChapter 13 Nature Nurturing Fathers in a World beyond our ControlChapter 14 Scenarios of Disaster: Crying Wolf, Scaring away the Elephants, and Heading 'Em off at the PassChapter 15 Hurricanes and HubrisChapter 16 Ranging Widely to Find Home

Patrick D. Murphy is professor of English at the University of Central Florida.

Theoretically sophisticated yet refreshingly readable, this wide-ranging study of contemporary, mainly genre-based fiction (sci-fi, mystery, crime, pseudo-documentary) makes an important addition to previous writing on the contribution of literature to environmental education. Murphy's sympathetic but critical evaluation of the literary treatment of the simple life, urban development, nanotechnology, hurricanes, and other less predictable themes such as father-daughter relationships, not least in young adult fiction, is as innovative as his arguments for the potential of simulated and mediated experience to enhance environmental awareness and his advocacy of an allonational approach, replacing the nation state with smaller and larger units sharing vital environmental interests. The revelation of sometimes surprising subtleties and complexities will make encouraging and stimulating reading for all teachers of environmental literature. Murphy's book is a thoughtfully constructive engagement with the sobering critique of contemporary arrogance and the inspiring glimpses of alternatives present in contemporary American nature-oriented writing.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionPart 2 Climbing Through Conceptual FencesChapter 3 The Complexity of SimplicityChapter 4 Difference and Responsibility in Literary Alternatives to Nation StateChapter 5 Paradise or a Pair of Dice: Contradictions and Contingencies in Real and Virtual Terrains for Tomorrow's College StudentsChapter 6 Toward Transnational Ecocritical Theory: The Example of Hwa Yol JungPart 7 Surveying the Boundaries of GenreChapter 8 Nature in the Contemporary American NovelChapter 9 The Non-alibi of Alien Scapes: SF and EcocriticismChapter 10 The Non-alibi of Pragmatic Utopianism and Wild Variability; or, Optimistic Variations on a Science Fiction ThemeChapter 11 Mysteries of Nature and Environmental JusticePart 12 Culturally Crossing the FieldChapter 13 Nature Nurturing Fathers in a World beyond our ControlChapter 14 Scenarios of Disaster: Crying Wolf, Scaring away the Elephants, and Heading 'Em off at the PassChapter 15 Hurricanes and HubrisChapter 16 Ranging Widely to Find Home

Patrick D. Murphy is professor of English at the University of Central Florida.

Theoretically sophisticated yet refreshingly readable, this wide-ranging study of contemporary, mainly genre-based fiction (sci-fi, mystery, crime, pseudo-documentary) makes an important addition to previous writing on the contribution of literature to environmental education. Murphy's sympathetic but critical evaluation of the literary treatment of the simple life, urban development, nanotechnology, hurricanes, and other less predictable themes such as father-daughter relationships, not least in young adult fiction, is as innovative as his arguments for the potential of simulated and mediated experience to enhance environmental awareness and his advocacy of an allonational approach, replacing the nation state with smaller and larger units sharing vital environmental interests. The revelation of sometimes surprising subtleties and complexities will make encouraging and stimulating reading for all teachers of environmental literature. Murphy's book is a thoughtfully constructive engagement with the sobering critique of contemporary arrogance and the inspiring glimpses of alternatives present in contemporary American nature-oriented writing.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionPart 2 Climbing Through Conceptual FencesChapter 3 The Complexity of SimplicityChapter 4 Difference and Responsibility in Literary Alternatives to Nation StateChapter 5 Paradise or a Pair of Dice: Contradictions and Contingencies in Real and Virtual Terrains for Tomorrow's College StudentsChapter 6 Toward Transnational Ecocritical Theory: The Example of Hwa Yol JungPart 7 Surveying the Boundaries of GenreChapter 8 Nature in the Contemporary American NovelChapter 9 The Non-alibi of Alien Scapes: SF and EcocriticismChapter 10 The Non-alibi of Pragmatic Utopianism and Wild Variability; or, Optimistic Variations on a Science Fiction ThemeChapter 11 Mysteries of Nature and Environmental JusticePart 12 Culturally Crossing the FieldChapter 13 Nature Nurturing Fathers in a World beyond our ControlChapter 14 Scenarios of Disaster: Crying Wolf, Scaring away the Elephants, and Heading 'Em off at the PassChapter 15 Hurricanes and HubrisChapter 16 Ranging Widely to Find Home