their distinctive illunination. I don?t know if Wolfe studied Rowell, but if he did, he has surpassed his teacher. One of the book's strong points may also be its weakness for some readers. Wolfe often shows a photograph of a mountain backdrop bathed in magic-hours light, with a body of water in the foreground reflecting the mountains and concealed in shadow. While some viewers will take the opportunity to compare these similar pictures to explore Wolfe's style and subject, others will find them too repetitious. I also have to say a word about environmentalism, and here I know some people may react to my criticism apart from the book. Wolfe has said that he put this book together to underscore the importance of preserving the wild places he has photographed. Introductions by Robert Redford and John Adams, the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, reemphasize the point. Then Davidson's strident essays speak almost exclusively of man's efforts to dismember the landscape. These photographs are so eloquent that I see no necessity for adding a stream of text to distract us from the pictures, each of which is truly worth 10,000 words. Despite these criticisms I do not believe anyone who looks into the book will be unmoved or feel that they could better have spent their time. This book is the best series of landscape photos I have seen. I almost thought I heard angels singing arias in the background while looking at these images. Such is their profound