Synopses & Reviews
"A magnificent achievement. . . . A major work by a venerable master". Publishers Weekly
"The story not only of one man, but also of the human event on this planet". San Francisco Chronicle
Forty years in the writing, Gary Snyder's long-awaited epic poem appears for the first time in its entirety in this volume. Initially inspired by East Asian landscape painting and his own experience within "a chaotic universe where everything is in place", Snyder travels beyond the Western tradition in this work to encompass Asian art and drama, Native American performance and storytelling, the practice of Zen Buddhism, and varied landscapes all over the world. Mountains and Rivers will stand as a major work of American poetry.