Introduction: From empty spaces to storied places --

Part I. The idea of empty : Placing the land under the sign of empty ; Creating the American nation from a vast and empty chaos --

Part II. Seeking new connections : Becoming committed to place in Rich Bass's Winter ; The storied mountains of Charles Bowden's Frog Mountain blues ; Suturing the map of the known universe in Ellen Meloy's The last cheater's waltz --

Part III. Retracing paths and reassessing emplacement : The peopled shape of the land in Jonathan Raban's Bad land ; Unsettling oppositions in Rebecca Solnit's Savage dreams ; Robert Sullivan's reverse commute in The meadowlands --

Conclusion: The void calls; earth calls back.