John Muir: His Life and Letters and Other Writings

Contains portions of Muir's autobiography, letters, his lesser known books, and essays

John Muir: His Life And Letters And Other Writings is a new omnibus that provides an opportunity to bring together tree of John Muir's (1838-1913) lesser-known books: "The Cruise of the Corwin" which describes the search for the Ship "Jeanette" which was lost in Alaskan waters in 1876; "Stickeen", an affectionate portrait of a friend's dog that accompanied Muir on a glacier exploration; and "Edward Henry Harriman", a tribute to a railroad magnate who was Muir's unlikely ally in conservation politics. Also included are a number of Muir's lesser-known pamphlets and essays including "Picturesque California"; "Treasures and Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park"; and a series of previously uncollected letters concerning Muir's return to Scotland in 1983, and some rare scientific papers and essays. Still another item is Samuel Hall Young's 1915 book, "Alaska Days with John Muir" which provides a gripping account of some of Muir's bold escapades in later life. John Muir: His Life And Letters And Other Writings ends with a series of assessments on Muir's contributions, written after his death by fellow Sierra Club members. What emerges from this divers collection is a broader reflection of Muir's activities that embellishes and amplifies the material in his better known books. It gives the reader an intimate, candid Muir of the letters and a perspective of his later adventures, his career as a travel writer for magazines and journals, and Muir as the passionate polemicist on behalf of the earth's riches. All these writings come fresh from the frontiers of ecological living a century ago, in a region where the commercial and urban development of an energetic new nation brought conservation concerns to the fore. Though rooted in the burning issues of the past, Muir's writings provide contemporary lessons for our present and future survival on what Muir termed the "Earth Planet". John Muir: His Life And Letters And Other Writings is an important contribution to every conservationist and ecologist library, wonderul reading for those interested in the life and times of an amazing American, and a small masterpiece of scholastic research with an interest for generations of readers yet to come for whom John Muir will have become legend. -- Midwest Book Review