Essential Muir: A Selection of John Muir?s Best Writings

Essayist. Preservationist. Inventor. Lobbyist. John Muir may be California’s best-known icon. A literary naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club and Yosemite National Park, Muir left his legacy on the landscape and on paper. Taking the best of John Muir’s writings on nature—in which he waxes ecstatic even as he accurately describes the scientific attributes of a flower—as well as his thoughts on religion and society, Essential Muir presents a fresh look at one of California’s greatest figures. His love for nature was so powerful—and his description of it so compelling—it still inspires us a century later.

John Muir (1838–1914) was a naturalist, author, and advocate for wilderness preservation. A prolific writer, his many books, essays, and letters abound with wit, humor, and an exuberant love of the natural world.

Fred White is an associate professor of composition and he directed the writing program at Santa Clara University from 2003 to 2005. His books include The Well-Crafted Argument (with Simone Billings), Lifewriting, Communicating Technology, Science and the Human Spirit, and The Writer’s Art.