From Where We Stand

Book excerpt: Why does a particular landscape move us? What is it that attaches us to a particular place? Tall’s From Where We Stand is an eloquent exploration of the connections we have with places—and the loss to us if there are no such connections. A typically rootless child of several American suburbs, Tall set out to make a true home for herself in the landscape that circumstance had brought her—the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. In a mosaic of personal anecdotes, historical sketches, and lyrical meditations, she interweaves her own story with the story of this place and its people—from the Seneca Nation of the Iroquois, to European settlers, to the many utopians who sensed and were inspired by a spiritual resonance here. This edition includes an introduction by William Kittredge and a foreword by Stephen Kuusisto, both highlighting the book’s significance and Tall’s exquisite skill in tracing the relationship between homelands and storytelling.