(a) Classify what do the writers whom barry Lopez mentions in the first paragraph have in common ? (b) Connect what larger point is Lopez making by mentioning the range of new and old writers?

(a.)The writers whom Barry Lopez mentioned in the first paragraph have in common is the kind of writing they do, recently referred to as "nature or landscape writing". It is a type of writing that takes into account the impact that nature and place have on culture.

(b). By mentioning a range of old and new writers, Barry Lopez tried to make a point that although people believed the type of nature writing is new, there have been several and widely known nature writers in the past in American Literature who have written about impact of nature and place on culture, or nature/landscape writing. He tried to emphasize that  the old names would readily come to mind before remembering the new writers on the block.

- "the answers are a and b.  

when cullen speaks of planting while others reap, and standing "abject and mute," he is speaking about the racial injustices present in american society. as these injustices have changed over time, the american identity  has also shifted. those changes are, in turn, reflected in american literature."