Wind, water and time are agents of erosion evident in the desert. They have shaped the spectacular physical landscape of our nation from the Great Smokies to the Grand Canyon. But Terry Tempest Williams is also seeing another kind of erosion in America: erosion of democracy, erosion of science, decency, compassion and trust. She is one of this country’s most beloved authors and defenders of public lands and social and environmental justice. She writes, “Beauty is its own resistance. Water can crack stone.”