A chaplain is someone who provides religious and/or spiritual care to people at an institution. The author “worked for a few months as a student chaplain at a children’s hospital” (2). In this role, he witnessed a great deal of suffering and learned how to soothe and console patients and their families, holding their hands and offering prayer. It pained him, how little control he had over their fates, and that pain comes through in his essays, especially when he writes about the life-threatening dangers we all face as our planet teeters on the brink of environmental catastrophe. In his writing, he becomes, symbolically, a chaplain in the emergency room of the world.

Central to Green’s life is the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, where he and his family live. The city gets its own chapter and several other mentions in the book. Green initially disliked it for its American averageness. Soon, though, he discovered a deep and abiding sense of neighborhood and community friendship, which are attributes he values highly. Indianapolis is known for its average-American ways, and his transition from contempt to affection for the city mirrors his struggle to accept the US itself as a place and a people worthy of love and admiration.