{"product_id":"appalachian-autumn-book-marcia-bonta-9780822955344","title":"Appalachian Autumn","description":"Like her popular Appalachian Spring,  Marcia Bonta's new book offers a day-by-day account of the changing  world of nature in the mountains of central Pennsylvania.  This time she  chronicles the beauties of the autumn months as she walks the familiar  roads and trails of her 500-acre mountain-top farm, noting the minute  transformations of the season as well as the more dramatic ones.  But her quiet sojourn in the natural world is shattered by the intrusion  of a lumberman who insists upon clear-cutting a neighboring property.   The massive bulldozers and skidders crush every tree and shrub, weed,  and wildflower, leaving only rubble in their wake.  The Bontas become  involved in a lawsuit challenging this violation of the land they love  and seeking to protect their own property from the effects of the  logging.  \"Autumn is a bittersweet time,\" Bonta writes, \"a season of good-byes,  when, after the flaming leaves fall and start the inevitable process of  decay, we are left with only the bare bones of nature.\"  Fleeing from  the whine of chain saws and the crash of falling trees, she roams the  mountain-top, watching wild turkeys forage in the field, flocks of  migrating birds feast on wild grapes, does and bucks eye each other in  their mating ritual.  But she can never completely evade the insistent question: What is the  relationship between humans and nature?  Does ownership give one the  right to do as one pleases with the land and all the flora and fauna  living on it?  Does the natural world exists solely to satisfy mankind’s  desire for profit?  The answer is not simple; it cannot be drawn in winter’s black and  white.  But the issues must be of concern to every thoughtful person.   Marcia Bonta’s Appalachian Autumn offers a new voice in the ongoing debate.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50362052575505,"sku":"CIN0822955342A","price":19.73,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51008611221777,"sku":"NIN9780822955344","price":20.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52979945308433,"sku":"CIN0822955342G","price":8.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0822955342.jpg?v=1762422773","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/appalachian-autumn-book-marcia-bonta-9780822955344","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}