Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps »

A former insurance executive turned award-winning poet and writer, this author of the acclaimed look at the Nebraska heartland, Local Wonders, says that he has what he calls "wolf vision" -- an ability that lets him see every change in the landscape around him.

Ted Kooser describes with exquisite detail and humor the place he calls home in the rolling hills of southeastern Nebraska—an area known as the Bohemian Alps. Nothing is too big or too small for his attention. Memories of his grandmother’s cooking are juxtaposed with reflections about the old-fashioned outhouse on his property. When casting his eye on social progress, Kooser reminds us that the closing of local schools, thoughtless county weed control, and irresponsible housing development destroy more than just the view.

In the end, what makes life meaningful for Kooser are the ways in which his neighbors care for one another and how an afternoon walking with an old dog, or baking a pie, or decorating the house for Christmas can summon memories of his Iowa childhood. This writer is a seer in the truest sense of the word, discovering the extraordinary within the ordinary, the deep beneath the shallow, the abiding wisdom in the pithy Bohemian proverbs that are woven into his essays.

Heartlands

“This small gem of a book matches perfectly the vision of our Heartlands--conveying the beauty and courage of living close and deep.”

—Larry Smith, Heartlands: A Magazine of Midwest Life and Art