John Muir
Subtitle: apostle of nature
By: by Thurman Wilkins.
Series: Oklahoma western biographies ; v. 8
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Norman; London
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 302
ISBN-13: 9780806127125
Subjects: Muir, John, 1838-1914.; Naturalists -- United States -- Biography.; Conservationists -- United States -- Biography.
Description: Nearly a century after John Muir's death, his works remain in print, his name is familiar, and his thought is much with us. How Muir's life made him a leader and brought him insights destined to resonate for decades is the central question underlying this biography by Thurman Wilkins.

Profoundly attached to dramatic wild places and plants, and to the Sierra and the redwoods in particular, Muir spearheaded efforts to protect forest areas and have some designated as national parks. Muir's wilderness ethic, as revealed in his books, letters, and journals, rests on his conception of the proper relationship between human culture and wild nature as one of humility and respect for all life.

In the last decades of his life, John Muir was committed to preserving wild places for their own sake, because of their spiritual and aesthetic values. He became the acknowledged leader of the preservation wing of the conservation movement, and today the half-million-strong Sierra Club that he founded for mountain advocacy and headed until his death continues to shape legislation and public opinion regarding the wilds.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-283) and index.
Table of contents: title: Series editor's preface; title: Preface; title: Prologue; title: Dunbar days; title: Fountain Lake and Hickory Hill; title: Madison years; title: Canada and Indianapolis; title: The thousand-mile walk; title: First summer in the Sierra; title: Incomparable valley; title: The sage of Concord; title: Mountaineer-glaciologist of the Sierra; title: "Studes in the Sierra"; title: King Sequoia; title: New directions; title: First trip to Alaska; title: Stickeen; title: The cruise of the Corwin; title: Fruit grower; title: Yosemite National Park; title: The Sierra Club; title: The National Forestry Commission; title: The Harriman-Alaska expedition; title: Roosevelt, round the world, and recession; title: The contest for Hetch Hetchy; title: Home-going; title: Lore of a literary naturalist; title: Epilogue