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The Nature Conservancy, long dedicated to the preservation of wild places, asked thirteen writers to visit one of its preserves or write from past outdoor experiences, allowing a place to trigger their imaginations and make a story possible. Several authors...(more) were inspired by the landscapes of their youth (Jill McCorkle's North Carolina woods, or Richard Bausch's Blue Ridge Mountains), while others explored territory unfamiliar to them, such as Eric Lustbader, who trekked to Alaska. The contributors to Off the Beaten Path include many of our finest writers: Julia Alvarez, Rick Bass, Rita Mae Brown, Gretel Ehrlich, Barry Lopez, Howard Norman, and Annie Proulx. From the ominous to the humorous, from the tall tale to the meditative monologue, these stories reflect the variety and character of our diminishing wildlands and, in the end, lead us to places in ourselves that only the best fiction can reveal.(less)