Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 057

A portal to how the world was seen before modernity rewrote the rules. These fifteen pieces, written between the 16th and early 20th centuries, capture a particular kind of attention: the 1899 Alaskan earthquake that literally lifted cliffs forty-seven feet into the air, the terrifying forest fire that swept Northern Wisconsin that same year, the blood-red sunsets that followed Krakatoa's 1883 eruption. Yet the collection holds quieter wonders too: a guide to the Antrim coast of Ireland, observations on black walnut trees and the surprising social lives of yellow-jacket wasps, advice on painting reflections in water. Two dialogues by Erasmus probe a young woman's anguish over taking religious vows and the folly of those who worship names over things themselves. There are optimistic visions of progress in the age of electricity, meditations on how burglary has evolved, and Nostradamus' prognostications for the future. This is a cabinet of curiosities, a record of people watching their world with fresh, unguarded eyes.