Abstract
In the personal essays that constitute Here and There, Bill Conlogue combines readings of American literature, especially poetry, with legal and environmental history, autobiography, bits of geology, mining engineering, and travelogue to explore the history of land use in and around the Lackawanna Valley of northeastern Pennsylvania. His book will help readers already familiar with the region gain additional insight into that corner of the state and the challenges it presents to its modern-day residents. Conlogue is an eloquent, heartfelt guide to the history of both the mine-scarred anthracite landscape around Scranton, where he currently teaches, and the hardscrabble dairy farms that survive in the neighboring valleys to the north, where he grew up. He pays attention both to the reality of the region and to representations of that reality.