Every Step Is Home: A Spiritual Geography from Appalachia to Alaska

Travel writer Erickson has written a travelogue about areas of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, that have sacred and spiritual meaning to people now and throughout history. The author’s journeys, taken with her husband and mostly via camper during the start of the COVID lockdown, focus on the transformative power of land, air, water, landmarks, and animal migrations and roundups. They visited such sites as the Mounds of Ohio, archaeological wonders that are burial grounds of the Indigenous Adena and Hopewell peoples, and they witnessed Nebraska’s Sandhill Crane migration that takes place every year from mid- or late February to mid-April. Most of the 11 sites they visited are prefaced with one black-and-white photograph, just as the author did in her previous book, The Soul of the Family Tree. Erickson compares each locale to other sacred lands and surrounding beliefs held around the world. The book’s research incorporates comprehensive details about the history, geography, and interpretations of each area’s spiritual meaning and significance rooted in nature.