Fantasy writer Philip Pullman says, “After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” Stories have been central to how human history has been shaped and remembered. On a large scale, stories have been a way to pass down culture and remember history. On a smaller scale, they were used to have a fun evening or, often in many cultures, to put a child to bed. While the power of stories has generally gone unnoticed, William Cronon urgently urges us to pay attention to stories. As Cronon argues in “A Place for Stories,” how a story is told influences what future generations will learn and remember for themselves. William Cronon tells the “story” of postmodern environmental history and the various narrative methods of the postmodern historian. speech: “As often happens in history, [conflicting accounts] make us wonder how two competent authors, examining identical materials from the same past, could reach such divergent conclusions” (2). What Cronon is saying is simple; the story can be told from different points of view. Furthermore, in his example of the case of the Dust Bowl story, Cronin argues that narrative form gives life to otherwise seemingly meaningless accounts by pitting humanity against what we call “Mother Nature.” It seems to me that without the human element of the story, we, as humans, aren't all that interested in the natural elements. For example, storms like Hurricane Katrina and Sandy come and go. However, without the people in the story, stories have no meaning for humans. The thought of a thousand lives lost resonates in the memory more than the loss of a thousand acres of uninhabited land. This is how the chr...... middle of paper......, a loss that everyone can sympathize with or empathize with. However, instead of focusing on the pain and heartbreak of not having a mother, the narrator draws strength from the fact that his mother is connected to nature. Although his mother is not physically present in his life, her body has instead been buried in the earth like a seed. This gives comfort to the narrator because at least his mother's essence will always be present as long as there are trees, grass, and animals. Works Cited Bass, Rick. The sky, the stars, the desert. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. Print.Cronon, William. “A place for stories: nature, history and narrative.” The Journal of American History 78.4 (1992): 1347. Print.Spirn, Anne Whiston. “Restoring Mill Creek: Landscape Literacy, Environmental Justice, and Urban Planning and Design.” Landscape Research 30.3 (2005): 395-413. Press.