Swamplands is Struzik's love letter to a landscape so little thought of that it took until 2017 for the world's largest tropical peatland, the Cuvette Centrale in the central Congo basin, to be discovered. Despite continued draining of the world's wetlands, Struzik explains that they hold cultural and ecological value, with a book that is as much a historical account of American social groups as an autobiographical adventure and a reflection on the importance of peat-reliant fauna and flora. His enthusiasm and personality ring clearly throughout the book, with quirks such as detailed descriptions of the clothing worn by people he meets making the reader feel as though they are journeying with him. By interspersing knowledge from experts such as peatland rattlesnake researcher Smolarz, Struzik presents an engaging and well-informed account of these landscapes, backed up by a Notes chapter containing 16 pages of references.
My hope in reading this book was to gain a greater understanding of these overlooked landscapes. Coming from a culture in which books such as Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations paint marshes as empty, desolate landscapes of ‘long black horizontal line[s]’, it is not surprising that I underestimated their value until I read Swamplands. From native Americans using swamp plants for medicinal purposes, to European settlers fighting to subdue the land, African enslaved people finding refuge in the Great Dismal Swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of south-eastern Virginia and north-eastern North Carolina, and outlaws sheltering in the desert remnants of ancient bogland, Swamplands provides insights on human cultures as much as on the habitats themselves. The challenges of peatland life, conflicting priorities of those living within them, and the benefits these landscapes can bring to us, are themes woven throughout the book. The use of quotes at the start of each chapter builds on this, tying in cultural notions about wetlands as captured by artists. Right from the start of the book, Struzik challenges our preconceived ideas about wetlands, with vivid descriptions of rich landscapes and histories, as he guides the reader through fens, bogs, swamps and marshes.
With cultural relationships to swamps being a strong theme in the book, I was surprised at the heavy emphasis on North American, rather than global, landscapes. At times it felt as though landscapes outside North America were mentioned only to make a point about those within the continent. It would have been helpful to learn more about places mentioned only in passing, such as the most fauna-rich peatland in the world, in England, or the most extensive mountain peatland, in China. Perhaps the author's intention was to invoke a need to look into these locations following a reading of his book, but it did leave me feeling like part of the story about human connections to wetlands was missing.
Despite these omissions, Swamplands provides ample information and valuable insights. Two of my favourite chapters detailed the rich diversity of life within peatlands, from the expansive mountains of Hawaii to a small fen in Alberta. Likewise, anyone interested in human history will be fascinated by the deep dive into the variety of responses of North American cultures to the challenges of living with wetlands. For those interested in how climate change will impact life, the second half of Swamplands will not disappoint. Human actions combined with climate change are threatening landscapes with flooding, biodiversity crises, wildfires and carbon release; a 2007 tundra peatland wildfire alone released 2.3 million tons of carbon. In the final chapters one truly gets a sense of the importance of protecting and restoring peat, and of how much we have yet to learn about peatland ecology.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Swamplands to anyone interested in reading auto biographical accounts, learning about undervalued and little-understood landscapes, or examining human interactions with the natural world. Whether, like me, you have never delved into the topic of peatlands before, or you already know a great deal about them and would like to understand how they shaped North American history, this book will be equally enjoyable. It is packed with expedition anecdotes, scientific facts and insights into human history, and there is no doubt that you will finish Swamplands both more knowledgeable and more appreciative of these boggy landscapes.
Open access
