Fetching the dead

Scott Russell Sanders (born October 26, 1945, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American novelist and essayist. He grew up in northeastern Ohio, part of the time on a military base where his father, a civilian, worked in the administration, and part of the time on a small farm. This combination of settings, military and agricultural, shaped his first book of nonfiction, The Paradise of Bombs (1987). He studied math, physics, and literature at Brown University, graduating first in his class in 1967. Sanders has won acclaim for his skill as a personal essayist, with a focus on nature, community, and moral vision.