The Land of Little Rain

Mary Hunter Austin (1868 - 1934)

The Land of Little Rain is a book of sketches which portray the high desert country of southern California, where the Sierras descend into the Mojave Desert. Mary Austin finds beauty in the harsh landscape: "This is the sense of the desert hills--that there is room enough and time enough. . . The treeless spaces uncramp the soul." Her story begins with the water trails that lead toward the few life giving springs--the way marked for men by ancient Indian pictographs. Life and death play out at these springs. Rabbits fall prey to the coyote; buzzards hang heavily in the sky above. She then writes of individuals who eke out their living in this land of scarce resources--an itinerant gold prospector, a sheepherder, a blind Indian basket maker. Austin's spare prose creates unforgettable vignettes: "Choose a hill country for storms. . . I remember one night of thunderous rain made unendurably mournful by the houseless cry of a cougar whose lair, and perhaps his family, had been buried under a slide of broken boulders . . ." Anyone who sees beauty in the Southwestern deserts, or who just enjoys good nature writing, will savor The Land of Little Rain. ( Summary by Sue Anderson )

Genre(s): Nature, Travel & Geography

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 The Land of Little Rain Sue Anderson
00:24:49
Play 02 Water Trails of the Ceriso Sue Anderson
00:20:04
Play 03 The Scavengers Sue Anderson
00:14:30
Play 04 The Pocket Hunter Sue Anderson
00:18:22
Play 05 Shoshone Land Sue Anderson
00:19:41
Play 06 Jimville - A Bret Harte Town Sue Anderson
00:17:45
Play 07 My Neighbor's Field Sue Anderson
00:15:30
Play 08 The Mesa Trail Sue Anderson
00:18:15
Play 09 The Basket Maker Sue Anderson
00:16:47
Play 10 The Streets of the Mountains Sue Anderson
00:19:35
Play 11 Water Borders Sue Anderson
00:18:19
Play 12 Other Water Borders Sue Anderson
00:18:35
Play 13 Nurslings of the Sky Sue Anderson
00:18:53
Play 14 The Little Town of the Grape Vines Sue Anderson
00:17:57