The Parks Reference collection has just acquired this book, published by Greenwood, and edited by Daniel Patterson, Roger Thompson and Scott Bryson.  It includes essays on 52 writers, each averaging 6 pages. Each entry also includes primary and secondary bibliographies, the former often containing uncollected publications, and the latter often noting where the author's letters are held, when applicable. The essays seem to be aimed at upper-level undergraduates and graduate students. The book also contains a formidable "further reading" bibliography.

The prefatory note states that not all the authors included here are American, but they were chosen because the subject matter of their writing took into account the American landscape.  Perhaps writers like Emerson and Thoreau are better treated elsewhere, but one would be hard-pressed to find such in-depth encyclopedia articles on the writings of such figures as Neltje Blanchan and Captain Charles Melville Scammon.

This book can be located in the Parks Library REFERENCE section (Tier 2) at REF PS163 E18 2008.