North Woods follows the inhabitants of a house in New England over four hundred years, and the books that inspired me similarly drew from these different periods.  

Two of the most important books for me were about the region’s nature. William Cronon’s Changes in the Land is a classic of ecological history, looking at the legacy of Native and colonial impacts on New England wildlife and landscape. Tom Wessels’ Reading the Forested Landscape is a unique practical guide, and taught me how to begin to see the past in the forests of today.

No book set in the New England woods could not be influenced by Walden, but I would also recommend Thoreau’s diaries, published in many different forms (from seasonal excerpts; to full year compendiums; to the full 14 volumes) for their raw observations.  Similarly, I loved Hawthorne’s American Notebooks, not only for their notes on place and change, but for the insight they offer into his writing process.  

Finally, broadly, some of my favorite nature writing, of different kinds includes Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Jedidiah Purdy’s After Nature, and I really enjoyed specific histories of trees, among them Thomas Campanella’s Republic of Shade: New England and the American Elm, and Susan Freinkel’s American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree.

- Daniel Mason