...I wanted to sneak in their store and smash the bottles and set fire to the place. I also hated the Gallo brothers, Ernest and Julio, whose jovial faces shone from the labels of their wine, labels I would find, torn and curled, when I burned the trash. I noted the Gallo brothers' address, in California, and I studied the road atlas to see how far that was from Ohio, because I meant to go out there and tell Ernest and Julio what they were doing to my father, and then, if they showed no mercy, I would kill them....

American novelist, essayist, and teacher. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, and educated at Brown and Cambridge Universities, Sanders has spent his teaching career at Indiana University at Bloomington, where he is professor of English. The author of four novels, two short story collections, and seven children's books, he is best known for his nature writing and his eloquent, quietly insightful personal essays. Among his many books are Wilderness Plots: Tales about the Settlement of the American Land (1983, 2007); The Paradise of Bombs (1987), a collection of essays about violence in the United States; Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World (1994); The Force of Spirit (2001), a collection of meditations on family and the passage of time; A Private History of Awe (2006), a spiritual memoir; and A Conservationist Manifesto (2009). See also scottrussellsanders.com.