The Middle of Somewhere: Eight Walks Through the Tamed Wild of West Tennessee

How do the landscapes of our childhoods shape the people we become? Can wildness be found wherever we seek it? In The Middle of Somewhere, Stephen Black sets out on foot to answer these questions.

Facing his father’s and his own mortality, Black realizes he does not want to die a stranger to his own homeland. So, he embarks on a yearlong journey of eight walks, forming a rough circle around Gibson County, Tennessee.

As Black treks through highways, back roads, field edges, creeks, and small t...