The Nature of Generosity [Paperback]

The Nature of Generosityis at once a natural sequel to the acclaimed memoirHole in the Skyand an entirely unique masterwork from one of the finest writers of the American West.

Taking as his topic the "ordinary yearning to take physical and emotional care," William Kittredge embarks upon a literary and philosophical grand tour that explores the very core of who we are. Whether he's recalling a childhood in Oregon, touring Europe, or studying photographs of Japanese gardens in a bookstore in New York City, Kittredge's connections are as unexpected as they are inspiring. Shattering the myth that survival of the fittest means "survival of the violent, or the cruelest, or the selfish," Kittredge imagines a world in which altruism dominates--and offers ample evidence that this is not an unreachable utopian ideal. "[A]n unpredictable magnum opus, a daring and poetic polemic that challenges at every turn."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"Synthesizes a lifetime’s worth of fears and hopes for the planet."
--New Age

"Fascinating and instructive."
--The OregonianWilliam Kittredge lives in Missoula, Montana.Part One

The Old Animal

Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.

--Mark Twain

DUST LIFTED in slow streaks off the alkaline playa in the dry basin called
Long Lake. Tiny orange and white flowers blossomed among boulders of black
lava-flow basalt.

Ten thousand years ago, when the first humans came to the Great Basin
highlands where I stood, Long Lake was part of a sweep of swamps and vast
watery basins fed by melting glaciers. Waterbirds lifted to wheel and
settle, refolding their wings. Their movements, to my dreaming, are a
flowering of momentum--in this, much like music.

At the end of a rocky two-track road, Long Lake is lost among the ridges
rising from the east side of Warner Valll"