The Legacy of Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) - as writer, teacher and conservationist - once moved Edward Abbey to declare him "the only living American worthy of the Nobel." Unequaled in the American literature of place, his Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction created an entirely new consciousness of the American West. As director of the Creative Writing Program at Stanford University, Stegner wielded a powerful influence on many of the most important writers of two generations. Through his work for the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society and his service as special assistant to the Secretary of the interior, Stegner contributed substantially to the emergence and development of the environmental movement. This remarkable tribute volume brings together eloquent testimonies from colleagues, friends, and family whose lives Wallace Stegner profoundly graced. Edited by Stegner's wife and son, and illustrated by a gallery of candid photographs, The Geography of Hope is a stirring memorial to a truly great man, whose incandescent spirit will remain an inspiration for generations to come.