Crex Nature Book Club – Fen, Bog, and Swamp by Annie Proulx
September 24, 2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Join us virtually or in person the 4th Wednesday of each month for a nature-themed book club!
Ticket sales close 6 weeks before the meeting. You only need to purchase a ticket if you need a copy of the book supplied for you. The $15 ticket fee covers the cost of the book. If you want to obtain the book on your own, please choose the free RSVP instead of purchasing a ticket.
Zoom links will be sent directly to your email when you RSVP/purchase a ticket. A link to the book club meeting will also be available on this page when the book club meeting begins.
About the book…
*Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and Literary Hub!* A Finalist for the 2022 NBCC Awards in Nonfiction, the 2023 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Award, and the NEIBA 2023 New England Book Award*
From Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx, this riveting deep dive into the history of our wetlands and what their systematic destruction means for the planet “is both an enchanting work of nature writing and a rousing call to action” (Esquire).
“I learned something new–and found something amazing–on every page.” –Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land
A lifelong acolyte of the natural world, Annie Proulx brings her witness and research to the subject of wetlands and the vitally important role they play in preserving the environment–by storing the carbon emissions that accelerate climate change. Fens, bogs, swamps, and marine estuaries are crucial to the earth’s survival, and in four illuminating parts, Proulx documents their systemic destruction in pursuit of profit.
In a vivid and revelatory journey through history, Proulx describes the fens of 16th-century England, Canada’s Hudson Bay lowlands, Russia’s Great Vasyugan Mire, and America’s Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. She introduces the early explorers who launched the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, and writes of the diseases spawned in the wetlands–the Ague, malaria, Marsh Fever.
A sobering look at the degradation of wetlands over centuries and the serious ecological consequences, this is “an unforgettable and unflinching tour of past and present, fixed on a subject that could not be more important” (Bill McKibben).
“A stark but beautifully written Silent Spring-style warning from one of our greatest novelists.” — The Christian Science Monitor
Questions? Call us at 715-463-2739 or email information@crexmeadows.org
Nature Book Club
I will bring my own book.