Exterranean concerns the extraction of stuff from the Earth, a process in which matter goes from being sub- to exterranean. By shifting emphasis from emission to extraction, Usher reorients our perspective away from Earthrise-like globes and shows what is gained by opening the planet to depths within. Both historicist and speculative in approach, Exterranean eschews the self-congratulatory claims of posthumanism and lays the groundwork for a comparative ecocriticism that reaches across periods and languages. congratulatory claims of posthumanism and lays the groundwork for a comparative ecocriticism that reaches across periods and languages.