The settings of the essays vary from rural to urban, but most emphasize a world that exists right on the edge of urban America. A New Englander, Swain writes about the region he knows best—that near Massachusetts, and he often places his focus on his home in Newton Highlands. His essays provide a general picture of his home: It is in the countryside, once far from urban areas but now within sight of housing developments. Nearby are hills populated by trees and berry bushes. A stone fence built when the land had been cleared for farming rings Swain's property, but the fence now stretches among trees which have grown up since the farmers of the previous century left for better soil in the western territories. The trees and other plant life on Swain's land serve as symbols of nature's ability to renew itself, even while its...