Douglas A. Vakoch is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, as well as Director of Interstellar Message Composition at the SETI Institute. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Ecopsychology, and he has served as guest editor for a special issue of the journal ReVision devoted to environmental issues. Vakoch is the general editor for Berghahn Books’ Ecofeminist Theory and Practice Series, which includes his own book, Ecofeminism and Rhetoric: Critical Perspectives on Sex, Technology, and Discourse (2011). His other books include Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SUNY Press, 2011), Civilizations Beyond Earth: Extraterrestrial Life and Society (Berghahn Books, 2011), Psychology of Space Exploration: Contemporary Research in Historical Perspective (NASA, 2011), On Orbit and Beyond: Psychological Perspectives on Human Spaceflight (Springer, 2012), Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication (NASA, 2012), and Astrobiology, History, and Society: Extraterrestrial Life and the Impact of Discovery (Springer, 2013).

This collection of essays considers feminist ecocriticism not only as a mode of analysis and critique but also as a repertoire of liberatory strategies. In his introduction, Vakoch (California Institute of Integral Studies) formulates feminist ecocriticism as a pluralistic field; the collection as a whole calls into question the assumptions of that field as it has developed so far (responding to previous work, e.g., New Essays in Ecofeminist Literary Criticism, ed. by Glynis Carr, 2000)--often by making some unexpected choices, as evidenced in a piece examining J. K. Huysmans's À Rebours. Weaker essays in the collection are those proffering analysis of the usual suspects (Ursula Le Guin, Barbara Kingsolver) for a collection like this. But two essays on Rachel Carson are solid entries, particularly one looking at the trope of sentimentality in Silent Spring. The collection concludes with an epilogue synthesizing the book's general themes and interrogating some of its premises, focusing on values, ethics, and the problem of essentialism (a problem that shows up with some regularity here); this epilogue offers interesting suggestions for future work. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

• Introduction. A Different StoryDouglas A. VakochChapter 1.  Ecofeminist Theories of Liberation in the Science Fiction of Sally Miller Gearhart, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Joan SlonczewskiEric C. OttoChapter 2. Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams: Ecofeminist Subversion of Western Myth Theda WredeChapter 3.  Reintegrating Human and Nature: Modern Sentimental Ecology in Rachel Carson and Barbara Kingsolver Richard M. MageeChapter 4. Shifting Subjects and Marginal Worlds: Revealing the Radical in Rachel Carson’s Three Sea Books Marnie M. SullivanChapter 5. Decadent Desire: The Dream of Disembodiment in J.K. Huysmans’ A Rebours Monique M. LaRocqueChapter 6. “Discourse Excellent Music”: Romantic Rhetoric and Ecofeminism in Mary Shelley’s The Last ManVicky L. AdamsAfterword. Ecofeminism: The Ironic PhilosophyJeffrey A. Lockwood

Douglas A. Vakoch is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, as well as Director of Interstellar Message Composition at the SETI Institute. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Ecopsychology, and he has served as guest editor for a special issue of the journal ReVision devoted to environmental issues. Vakoch is the general editor for Berghahn Books’ Ecofeminist Theory and Practice Series, which includes his own book, Ecofeminism and Rhetoric: Critical Perspectives on Sex, Technology, and Discourse (2011). His other books include Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SUNY Press, 2011), Civilizations Beyond Earth: Extraterrestrial Life and Society (Berghahn Books, 2011), Psychology of Space Exploration: Contemporary Research in Historical Perspective (NASA, 2011), On Orbit and Beyond: Psychological Perspectives on Human Spaceflight (Springer, 2012), Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication (NASA, 2012), and Astrobiology, History, and Society: Extraterrestrial Life and the Impact of Discovery (Springer, 2013).

This collection of essays considers feminist ecocriticism not only as a mode of analysis and critique but also as a repertoire of liberatory strategies. In his introduction, Vakoch (California Institute of Integral Studies) formulates feminist ecocriticism as a pluralistic field; the collection as a whole calls into question the assumptions of that field as it has developed so far (responding to previous work, e.g., New Essays in Ecofeminist Literary Criticism, ed. by Glynis Carr, 2000)--often by making some unexpected choices, as evidenced in a piece examining J. K. Huysmans's À Rebours. Weaker essays in the collection are those proffering analysis of the usual suspects (Ursula Le Guin, Barbara Kingsolver) for a collection like this. But two essays on Rachel Carson are solid entries, particularly one looking at the trope of sentimentality in Silent Spring. The collection concludes with an epilogue synthesizing the book's general themes and interrogating some of its premises, focusing on values, ethics, and the problem of essentialism (a problem that shows up with some regularity here); this epilogue offers interesting suggestions for future work. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

• Introduction. A Different StoryDouglas A. VakochChapter 1.  Ecofeminist Theories of Liberation in the Science Fiction of Sally Miller Gearhart, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Joan SlonczewskiEric C. OttoChapter 2. Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams: Ecofeminist Subversion of Western Myth Theda WredeChapter 3.  Reintegrating Human and Nature: Modern Sentimental Ecology in Rachel Carson and Barbara Kingsolver Richard M. MageeChapter 4. Shifting Subjects and Marginal Worlds: Revealing the Radical in Rachel Carson’s Three Sea Books Marnie M. SullivanChapter 5. Decadent Desire: The Dream of Disembodiment in J.K. Huysmans’ A Rebours Monique M. LaRocqueChapter 6. “Discourse Excellent Music”: Romantic Rhetoric and Ecofeminism in Mary Shelley’s The Last ManVicky L. AdamsAfterword. Ecofeminism: The Ironic PhilosophyJeffrey A. Lockwood

Douglas A. Vakoch is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, as well as Director of Interstellar Message Composition at the SETI Institute. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Ecopsychology, and he has served as guest editor for a special issue of the journal ReVision devoted to environmental issues. Vakoch is the general editor for Berghahn Books’ Ecofeminist Theory and Practice Series, which includes his own book, Ecofeminism and Rhetoric: Critical Perspectives on Sex, Technology, and Discourse (2011). His other books include Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SUNY Press, 2011), Civilizations Beyond Earth: Extraterrestrial Life and Society (Berghahn Books, 2011), Psychology of Space Exploration: Contemporary Research in Historical Perspective (NASA, 2011), On Orbit and Beyond: Psychological Perspectives on Human Spaceflight (Springer, 2012), Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication (NASA, 2012), and Astrobiology, History, and Society: Extraterrestrial Life and the Impact of Discovery (Springer, 2013).

This collection of essays considers feminist ecocriticism not only as a mode of analysis and critique but also as a repertoire of liberatory strategies. In his introduction, Vakoch (California Institute of Integral Studies) formulates feminist ecocriticism as a pluralistic field; the collection as a whole calls into question the assumptions of that field as it has developed so far (responding to previous work, e.g., New Essays in Ecofeminist Literary Criticism, ed. by Glynis Carr, 2000)--often by making some unexpected choices, as evidenced in a piece examining J. K. Huysmans's À Rebours. Weaker essays in the collection are those proffering analysis of the usual suspects (Ursula Le Guin, Barbara Kingsolver) for a collection like this. But two essays on Rachel Carson are solid entries, particularly one looking at the trope of sentimentality in Silent Spring. The collection concludes with an epilogue synthesizing the book's general themes and interrogating some of its premises, focusing on values, ethics, and the problem of essentialism (a problem that shows up with some regularity here); this epilogue offers interesting suggestions for future work. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

• Introduction. A Different StoryDouglas A. VakochChapter 1.  Ecofeminist Theories of Liberation in the Science Fiction of Sally Miller Gearhart, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Joan SlonczewskiEric C. OttoChapter 2. Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams: Ecofeminist Subversion of Western Myth Theda WredeChapter 3.  Reintegrating Human and Nature: Modern Sentimental Ecology in Rachel Carson and Barbara Kingsolver Richard M. MageeChapter 4. Shifting Subjects and Marginal Worlds: Revealing the Radical in Rachel Carson’s Three Sea Books Marnie M. SullivanChapter 5. Decadent Desire: The Dream of Disembodiment in J.K. Huysmans’ A Rebours Monique M. LaRocqueChapter 6. “Discourse Excellent Music”: Romantic Rhetoric and Ecofeminism in Mary Shelley’s The Last ManVicky L. AdamsAfterword. Ecofeminism: The Ironic PhilosophyJeffrey A. Lockwood