LA CROSSE TRIBUNE || OCTOBER 2011

In a public climate dominated by loud, combative rhetoric, Wisconsin author Jerry Apps values something in short supply today: subtlety.

It’s not that Apps, who writes about the outdoors and rural life, shies away from the challenging issues of the day.

As he said when I caught up with him during a book-signing two weeks ago, he feels very strongly that the land is alive and needs to be nurtured rather than exploited as a commodity.

“I’m concerned that in this day and age, the environmental problems we have are horrendous,” said the 77-year-old, a respected elder among Wisconsin writers, who has published more than 30 books. “Right now we are on the verge of going backward instead of forward on everything from air pollution to water pollution to why the land is important.”

It’s just that Apps has found different ways of expressing himself than those who see the public sphere as a boxing ring. >>READ MORE

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