Edward Hoagland is a prolific American essayist and nature writer. Having lived much of his life in between New York City (where he was born in 1932) and the backcountry of Vermont, British Columbia, and Alaska, his writing reflects two essential but polarizing aspects of American life. He has been praised by writers like John Updike as “the best essayist of my generation,” and Edward Abbey as a “a strong, solid writer with a splendid feel for the intricacy, queerness and stubborn pertinacity of life.” In the upcoming Winter issue of The American Scholar, we will be publishing a piece he wrote called “On Friendship,” which explores how the intimacies shared with our closest companions keep us anchored, vital, and alive. In anticipation, we are looking back to an essay that he wrote for us called “Spaced Out in the City” about how smartphones and handheld gadgets are distancing us from our beloved cities. This observation seems increasingly relevant just two years later.
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Edward Hoagland is a prolific American essayist and nature writer. Having lived much of his life in between New York City (where he was born in 1932) and the backcountry of Vermont, British Columbia, and Alaska, his writing reflects two essential but polarizing aspects of American life.

He has been praised by writers like John Updike as “the best essayist of my generation,” and Edward Abbey as a “a strong, solid writer with a splendid feel for the intricacy, queerness and stubborn pertinacity of life.”

In the upcoming Winter issue of The American Scholar, we will be publishing a piece he wrote called “On Friendship,” which explores how the intimacies shared with our closest companions keep us anchored, vital, and alive.

In anticipation, we are looking back to an essay that he wrote for us called “Spaced Out in the City” about how smartphones and handheld gadgets are distancing us from our beloved cities. This observation seems increasingly relevant just two years later.