Bogland
The Secret World That Defies Death and Protects Life
13 October 2026
Territory Rights — Worldwide including Canada, Singapore and Malaysia, but excluding the British Commonwealth.
Description
From a stunning new voice in popular science, a beguiling invitation to discover the hidden power of one of Earth’s most mysterious landscapes.
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
Not quite land and not quite water, boglands have long been dismissed as wastelands—too sodden to farm, too perilous to cross, too unruly to be considered beautiful. Come closer, however, and a strange truth emerges: These wild, eerie landscapes stretch our minds, hold the history of humanity, and will shape the future of our planet. In Bogland, acclaimed ecologist Merritt R. Turetsky invites readers to discover the elusive magic and surprising power of these misunderstood places, where the boundaries blur between life and death, past and present, refuge and peril.
Venturing from the boreal forests of Canada to the jungles of Borneo, and from the planet’s oldest bog in Greece to some of its newest in Greenland, Turetsky unveils bogs as marvelous paradoxes that defy categorization and their own systemic undervaluation. Here, radical life forms—acid-flinging mosses, amphibian-eating plants—spring from layers upon layers of dead matter. The past and present commingle with uncanny intimacy as peat safeguards artifacts for centuries, along with ancient lives unearthed later as “bog bodies” so remarkably preserved they are sometimes mistaken for the recently missing. Proverbially dangerous, bogs have offered shelter throughout history to the marginalized and resistance movements from Virginia to Vietnam. Crucially, they also regulate the planet’s climate, sequestering nearly one-third of Earth’s soil carbon while covering just 3 percent of its surface—even as accelerating exploitation risks transforming them from climate allies to climate foes, and erasing these ecosystems just as we’re learning to appreciate them.
The debut of an extraordinary nature writer, Bogland is an ode and a call to action: to defend bogs’ strangeness and stillness from rising destruction, to value them precisely for their refusal to conform, and to learn from them new ways to adapt, endure, and belong on our changing planet—before it’s too late.
Reviews
"The ecologist Merritt Turetsky—a bog expert and a bog superfan—makes the case for bogs as protective forces against climate change, as repositories of human and natural history, as zones of freedom and safety for oppressed peoples. . . . Bogland is a transporting book and a persuasive call to action." — Lauren Redniss, New York Times Book Review
"In Bogland, Merritt Turetsky presents bogs as remote and difficult yet beautiful and full of life. There is no mistaking her passion. . . . [A]n urgent call to save our remaining boglands." — Karin Altenberg, Wall Street Journal
"A beguiling invitation, bound to challenge how you see the natural world." — Liz Else, New Scientist
"The ecologist Turetsky transports readers deep into the mysterious terrain of the bog—somewhere between land and water—to explore its rich history and ecological importance. From Borneo to Greece to Greenland, Turetsky makes a passionate case for these wetlands as both eerie preservers of the human past and models of symbiotic existence." — New York Times
"Thank goodness Merritt Turetsky became captivated by boglands. . . . [T]he book’s ultimate gift was igniting a reverence for these incredible ecosystems." — Aimee Cunningham, Science News
"Turetsky’s unlikely mission is to make us all feel that fervency for bogs, to make us realize we can’t live without them any more than Heathcliff can live without Catherine." — Ron Charles, Substack
"Turetsky’s descriptions of the bogs resonate deeply. . . . Boglands is an important start toward conserving and re-appreciating some of our most precious and misunderstood landscapes." — Ben McCabe, EcoLit Books
"Turetsky’s fluid prose lets us breathe the damp air, swat away pesky mosquitoes, and sink shin-deep into the muck—all while revealing the rich history and vital importance of these muddy landscapes." — Jeffery Payne, Colorado Sun
"Lyrical and empathetic, this will encourage readers to see bogs as worthy of wonder and attention." — Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Turetsky is a passionate storyteller and educator who invites readers to respect, appreciate, and enjoy these unique and threatened spaces." — Judy Poyer, Library Journal
"In praise of the 'underdog ecosystems.' . . . A heartfelt plea for the protection of ancient, complex systems that help protect the world's ecology and climate." — Kirkus Reviews
"Merritt Turetsky takes readers deep into boglands to witness the surprising beauty of peat . . . [and learn] how to look beyond the obvious, how to love places that aren’t dramatic, but rather exist quietly, enduring and supportive. Everyone . . . should read this book." — Anna Chilvers, coeditor of The Book of Bogs
"Merritt Turetsky is so enraptured by bogs, so full of wide-eyed passion for them, and so skilled at recasting them as the magical wonderlands that they secretly are, that you cannot help but be swept away." — Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of An Immense World
"Bogland is one of those rare and exciting books that can change bad situations in the way that Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring did in the 1960s. . . . This journey is more than a rich and loving appreciation of the worldwide kingdom of sphagnum bogs. . . . [Merritt] Turetsky asks readers to help her support and rescue the world’s endangered and failing boglands that are struggling to hold the earth together. . . . If you enjoy breathing, you should join us and answer the call." — Annie Proulx, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Fen, Bog & Swamp
"Bogland invites us to consider the quiet power of Earth’s darkest, dankest layers. With infectious care and curiosity, Merritt Turetsky reveals the rich histories and ecological wonders buried in bogs around the world. A beautiful ode to one of Earth’s most overlooked environments." — Laura Poppick, author of Strata
