Divine Cosmos offers readers a freshly conceived, invaluable commentary on the ways in which Humboldt's distinctive vision of 'ecology' informs key works of 19th-century American literature – with further application to the religious aspirations and environmental challenges of our own day. Throughout this cross-disciplinary study Nossaman also does a splendid job of helping us bridge the presumed chasm between science and religion.

John Gatta, William B. Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of English, Sewanee: The University of the South, USA

Nossaman's earlier work on the importance of Humboldt's ecological views to Frederick Douglass and James McCune Smith has already opened the door to fresh understandings of Humboldt's centrality to American literature, religion, and culture. Divine Cosmos opens that door wider still, using interdisciplinary questions about nature, ethics, and the divine to survey a full range of American writers in Humboldt's light. This is the book we've been waiting for, one imbued with wonder and wisdom, integrating Humboldt's ecological vision across the spectrum of American religion, science, and literature.

Laura Dassow Walls, Professor Emerita of English, University of Notre Dame, USA, and author of author of Passage to Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the Shaping of America (2009)