Status
Available
Publication
Washington, D.C. : London : National Geographic Society ; Hi Marketing, 2000.
Description
In this definitive photobiography, Ehrlich brings her award-winning grace & insight to the life of one of our nation's most prized environmental heroes--John Muir, a founder of the Sierra Club.
User reviews
LibraryThing member erwinkennythomas
Gretel Ehrlich’s John Muir: Nature’s Visionary is a fascinating account of a premiere environmentalist in America’s history. This biography traced Muir’s life from his birth and upbringing in Scotland, conflicts with his family, and decision to venture out on his own in the wilderness. The
Ehrlich showed that Muir endured child beatings, near death experiences, bouts of malaria, and near starvation during his life. Most of these trials came in the wildness where he often slept in the snow, was without a coat, and worked at odd jobs. But Muir’s love of nature propelled him in the wildness to be with trees like the giant sequoias, mountains, lakes, valleys, rocks, and the flora and fauna of these regions. He made notes, sketched images, and made observations about glaciers.
Muir’s vision eventually bore fruit, and because of his activism on October 1, 1890, a bill in the United States senate made Yosemite a national park. More success followed when national parks were set aside for 55 wildlife preserves and 150 national forests. His twilight years saw him as an accomplished writer, advocate for parks, and undertaking travels to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia.
Muir lived in the Martinez ranch with his wife Louie and daughters. Eventually he suffered setbacks in his evangelistic mission of preserving more open spaces when big business won, and Hetch Hetchy was dammed. By this time he was suffering from a respiratory illness which got worse and killed him.
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environmentalist’s adventure took him on a thousand-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico, experiences in the Sierra Nevada, and on explorations in Alaska.Ehrlich showed that Muir endured child beatings, near death experiences, bouts of malaria, and near starvation during his life. Most of these trials came in the wildness where he often slept in the snow, was without a coat, and worked at odd jobs. But Muir’s love of nature propelled him in the wildness to be with trees like the giant sequoias, mountains, lakes, valleys, rocks, and the flora and fauna of these regions. He made notes, sketched images, and made observations about glaciers.
Muir’s vision eventually bore fruit, and because of his activism on October 1, 1890, a bill in the United States senate made Yosemite a national park. More success followed when national parks were set aside for 55 wildlife preserves and 150 national forests. His twilight years saw him as an accomplished writer, advocate for parks, and undertaking travels to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia.
Muir lived in the Martinez ranch with his wife Louie and daughters. Eventually he suffered setbacks in his evangelistic mission of preserving more open spaces when big business won, and Hetch Hetchy was dammed. By this time he was suffering from a respiratory illness which got worse and killed him.
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