Summer reading: If Women Rose Rooted

Book cover for If Women Rose RootedIf Women Rose Rooted
Sharon Blackie

In this eco-feminist work, Sharon Blackie writes about the dreadful severance that has occurred between the Earth and people, especially women, and how we have become lost and estranged from the natural world. Since our Western culture is founded on philosophies of dominion over nature, that animals have no reason, and that matter is inert, she writes, “it follows that the natural world is no more than a backdrop for human activities, to be exploited. Wild places have become ‘resources.’” It’s obvious that if you don’t know a place, then you don’t feel responsible for it. This book is an electrifying call to reconnect with the Earth and remember that we belong here. She reminds us that we must guard it and make a path to an “eco-heroine’s journey,” through Earth’s forests and fields, moors (she especially writes about Ireland and Scotland) and caves, waters, islands, and mountains.

JEAN DICKINSON
Slavic & Eastern European Catalog Librarian
UCB Library

This book is part of the 2020 Berkeley Summer Reading List. Stay tuned for more weekly posts!