Book Reviews

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No Ordinary Landscape: Encounters in a Changing Environment Photographs by Virginia Beahan and Laura McPhee, introduction by Rebecca Solnit, afterward by John McPhee (Aperture $40 ISBN 0-89381-733-3) The philosophy of this collaboration reflects the belief that civilization is defined by our relationship to the natural environment and how it is refashioned to meet human needs. It infers that if the hallmark of civilization is how we shape nature to meet our human preferences then we must take the natural environments of civilizations fully into account. This team has been making color photographs since 1987, covering civilizations from Iceland to Hawaii, that challenge viewers to think about the dynamic interaction between nature and people. RH