Cohen, who teaches language and literature at Southern Utah University, also writes about environmental issues (e.g., The Pathless Way: John Muir and American Wilderness, 1984). His latest book focuses on a species of tree, the bristlecone pine, that is thought to be this planet's oldest living thing; these trees may live for up to 5000 years. But this is also a story of the relationship between humans and bristlecones, from their discovery well over a century ago to the tree-ring and radiocarbon dating studies done by individual scientists in recent times. Cohen, who focuses on the trees of the Great Basin in the American West, an area he knows well, is especially concerned with how the bristlecone is perceived in our modern culture. Recommended primarily for academic libraries but fascinating reading for anyone interested in the nature-people relationship.William H. Wiese, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
