In Ecocritical Explorations, Patrick D. Murphy explores environmental literature and environmental cultural issues through both theoretical and applied criticism. He engages with the concepts of referentiality, simplicity, the nation state, and virtual reality in the first section of the book, and then goes on to interrogate these issues in contemporary environmental literature, both American and international. He concludes his argument with a discussion of the larger frames of family dynamics and un-natural disasters, such as hurricanes and global warming, ending with a chapter on the integration of scholarship and pedagogy in the classroom, with reference to his own teaching experiences. Murphy's study provides a wide ranging discussion of contemporary literature and cultural phenomena through the lens of ecological literary criticism, giving attention to both theoretical issues and applied critiques. In particular, he looks at popular literary genres, such as mystery and science fiction, as well as actual disasters and disaster scenarios. Ecocritical Explorations in Literary and Cultural Studies is a timely contribution to ecological literary criticism and an insightful look into how we represent our relationship with the environment.

"This a necessary, updated record of the study of literature and the environment and the concomitant exigencies of reconsidering how humans inhabit the earth. Highly recommended." - CHOICE, January 2010

"Patrick D. Murphy's latest volume, Ecocritical Explorations in Literary and Cultural Studies: Fences, Boundaries, and Fields, is important to the fields of cultural, literary, and ecocritical studies…. This text will benefit students and scholars wishing to engage contemporary literature and cultural studies with theoretical and applied modes of ecocritical critique." - ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment