num_pages: 256
description: An album quilt an artful assortment of nonfiction writings by John McPhee that have not previously appeared in any bookThe Patch is the seventh collection of essays by the nonfiction master all published by Farrar Straus and Giroux. It is divided into two parts.Part 1 The Sporting Scene consists of pieces on fishing football golf and lacrosse--from fly casting for chain pickerel in fall in New Hampshire to walking the linksland of St. Andrews at an Open Championship. Part 2 called An Album Quilt is a montage of fragments of varying length from pieces done across the years that have never appeared in book form--occasional pieces memorial pieces reflections reminiscences and short items in various magazines including The New Yorker. They range from a visit to the Hershey chocolate factory to encounters with Oscar Hammerstein Joan Baez and Mount Denali.Emphatically the author's purpose was not merely to preserve things but to choose passages that might entertain contemporary readers. Starting with 250000 words he gradually threw out 75 percent of them and randomly assembled the remaining fragments into an album quilt. Among other things The Patch is a covert memoir.
language: English
title: The Patch
publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux