A lifelong naturalist and Yankee fan, Ted Levin follows a trail blazed by John Burroughs and John Muir, neither of whom paid baseball much attention. His work has appeared in Audubon, Sierra, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Newsday, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, and The Daily Telegraph, among many other publications. He is the author of Backtracking: The Way of a Naturalist (1987), Blood Brook: A Naturalist's Home Ground (1992), and Liquid Land: A Journey Through the Florida Everglades (2003), among other works of nonfiction. He won the Burroughs Medal in 2004, the highest literary honor awarded to an American nature writer. E. O. Wilson called America's Snake: The Rise and Fall of the Timber Rattlesnake (2016) a beautifully written book [that] demonstrates just how good nature literature can be.

Praise for the Writing of Ted Levin "This beautifully written book demonstrates just how good nature literature can be." --Edward O. Wilson, Two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize

"The marriage of a great writer and a great subject is always a joy to behold." --Bill McKibben, author The End of Nature

"Levin is also exquisitely attuned to the larger rhythms of nature, as alive to what's singing in the trees as to what's slithering underfoot. This book resonates with wit, love, and wonder . . ." -- Library Journal, starred review Advance Praise for Promise of Sunrise

"I've been a follower of Ted Levin's work for decades. Now, with The Promise of Sunrise, I have accompanied him through COVID and his solitary "sheltering-in-place" journey, although it is not quite that. He has his dogs, early morning walks, and singing, soaring, scurrying companions animating his world. I've come to admire him even more as a writer and observer of life we call nature." --Jack E. Davis, winner of 2018 Pulitzer Prize for History

"Ted Levin's Promise of Sunrise does not just invent a beautifully refurbished language for the close observation of nature; it turns the close observation of nature into an act of moral witness in a threatened world. He starts by answering the question of what to do with all the time the pandemic seemed to give us and ends by answering the question of what to do now that time seems to be running out. He's not telling us how to take a walk in the woods so much as he's telling us how to watch, how to listen, how to remember, how to hope and how to live, and he's written one of the most deeply human books about nature I have ever read." --Tom Junod, staffer writer for ESPN and a two-time winner of the National Magazine Award

"Ted Levin is a naturalist so attuned to the natural world that every line of melodic prose in The Promise of Sunrise: Finding Solace in a Broken World is saturated with details that only a lifetime of observation could provide. Levin's humor, descriptive ability, and his natural history expertise can be found on page after page . . . and are presented with exquisite sensory detail and delightful perspective." --Mary Holland, www.naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com, author, Naturally Curious, Naturally Curious Day By Day

"What Ted Levin's book reveals is the power that comes with the intimate, quiet, and continuous observation of the place one calls home, wherever that may be. The homebound confines of Covid quarantine life were liberating, not isolating, when, as Levin did, care was taken every day to note the changes in the patterns of weather, nature, and animal life that surround us. Levin shows the joy and expansive power of quiet observation to enrich our world and transport us well beyond the horizon of our vision, and to reconnect us to those we lost but still hold dear." --Peter Welch, United States Senator, Vermont

". . . His deep experience as a birder, photographer, and writer strengthens his observations, and with 43 years as a resident of the region, he has the wide-angle view of the changing seasons, weather patterns, flora, and fauna over time. He considers, as all modern nature writers should, the dramatic effects of the climate crisis on his local landscape . . . This accessible and informative book would be a great read for the many folks who found a passion for birding, walking, and wildlife tracking during the pandemic, as well as an engaging collection of stories for more seasoned naturalists." --reviewed by Frances Cannon, Northern Woodlands

"The marriage of a great writer and a great subject is always a joy to behold." --Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

Publisher: Green Writers Press

Pub date: 2025-03-20

Length: 424 pages