Wilderness World Of John Muir

As a conservationist, John Muir traveled through most of the American wilderness alone and on foot, without a gun or a sleeping bag. In 1903, while on a three-day camping trip with President Theodore Roosevelt, he convinced the president of the importance of a national conservation program, and he is widely recognized for saving the Grand Canyon and Arizona's Petrified Forest. Muir's writing, based on journals he kept throughout his life, gives our generation a picture of an America still wild and unsettled only one hundred years ago. In The Wildernesss World of John Muir Edwin Way Teale has selected the best of Muir's writing from all of his major works—including My First Summer in the Sierra and Travels in Alaska—to provide a singular collection that provides to be "magnificent, thrilling, exciting, breathtaking, and awe-inspiring" (Kirkus Reviews).

John Muir lived from 1838 to 1914. During that time he covered most of the American wilderness alone and on foot without a gun, without a sleeping bag, with only a sackful of stale bread and tea. Major credit is ascribed to him for saving the Grand Canyon and Arizona's Petrified Forest. In 1903 he convinced President Theodore Roosevelt, while on a three-day camping trip together, of the importance of a national conservation program. He had been president of the militia Sierra Club since its formation in 1892. Muir's writing, based on journals he kept throughout his life, gives our generation a picture of America only 100 years ago, still wild and unsettled. Edwin Way Teale has preserved the best of Muir's work in selections that show both the ago and the man.