The End of the End of the Earth gathers 16 of acclaimed author Jonathan Franzen's essays into a collection as introspective in tone as it is outward-facing in content. "The Essay in Dark Times," for example, reflects on the genre of the personal essay in an increasingly individualistic and self-destructive moment politically and environmentally. To that end, Franzen considers the fallout of his essay (reproduced later in the collection) that was critical of the Audubon Society, revealing intimate and thoughtful questions of subjectivity, writing and revising.
While Franzen tends to focus on his tender obsession with birding--and by extension the world's pressing environmental concerns--the collection also covers other subjects, like his friendship with author William Vollmann and his reflections on Edith Wharton as a writer and woman. The End of the End of the Earth manages both to incite and soothe as it delves into overlooked topics. Over the course of his career, Franzen has become an expert at burrowing into moments others take for granted, a literary skill that always brings up new insights, concerns and revelations. Even in his engrossing essays on birding in Antarctica, South America and Egypt, he connects large-scale destruction with quiet, personal consideration. These essays celebrate the process of internalizing the outside concern, person or species. In this way, birds are the perfect encapsulation of the collection, rejoicing in their "radical otherness.... They are always among us but never of us." --Alice Martin, freelance writer and editor