John Reid Muir

In a lifetime of exploration, writing, and passionate political activism, John Muir made himself America's most eloquent spokesman for the mystery and majesty of the wilderness. A crucial figure in the creation of our national parks system and a visionary prophet of environmental awareness, he was also a master of natural description who evoked with unique power and intimacy the untrammeled landscapes of the American West. This book collects his most significant and best-loved works in a single volume.

A collection of newspaper articles written by John Muir as he explored the wilderness of southeastern Alaska in 1879 and 1880.

"When John Muir died in 1914, the pre-eminent American naturalist, explorer, and conservationist had not yet written the second volume of his autobiography, in which he had planned to cover his Yosemite years, 1863 to 1875. Working with a variety of sources - Muir's letters, journals, articles, and unpublished manuscripts, as well as selections drawn from biographical pieces written about Muir by people who met him in Yosemite in the early 1870s - editors Engberg and Wesling have assembled what they term a "composite autobiography." They provide brief interpretive and transitional passages throughout the book and a short biographical/critical piece on Muir."--BOOK JACKET.