Autorentext

John Muir (April 21, 1838 - December 24, 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization. The 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail, a hiking trail in the Sierra Nevada, was named in his honor.[2] Other such places include Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir and Muir Glacier. In Scotland, the John Muir Way, a 130 mile long distance route, was named in honor of him. In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to the preservation of the Western forests. He petitioned the U.S. Congress for the National Park bill that was passed in 1890, establishing Yosemite National Park. The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas. He is today referred to as the "Father of the National Parks" and the National Park Service has produced a short documentary about his life. Muir has been considered 'an inspiration to both Scots and Americans'. Muir's biographer, Steven J. Holmes, believes that Muir has become "one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity," both political and recreational. As a result, his writings are commonly discussed in books and journals, and he is often quoted by nature photographers such as Ansel Adams. "Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world," writes Holmes. Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writings became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the archetype of our oneness with the earth",[ while biographer Donald Worster says he believed his mission was "...saving the American soul from total surrender to materialism.":403 On April 21, 2013, the first ever John Muir Day was celebrated in Scotland, which marked the 175th anniversary of his birth, paying homage to the conservationist.

Klappentext

2017 Reprint of 1962 Edition. This edition reprints the original text from 1912 along with notes and a new introduction by Frederic Gunsky first published in 1962. New maps and photos from the 1962 edition are also reprinted. This is a descriptive guide to the Yosemite, written by Muir. He provides directions for walks and hikes, sketches of Yosemite as it was in 1912, including description of birds, flowers and trees. He also describes canyons, falls the number peaks. The book is the fruit of long experience and loving, earnest, relentless study. In this book, "…Mr. Muir brings to his Sierra Club friends much of that feeling of joyful anticipation with which we enter upon an outing into the High Sierra. From its pages we are sure to gain a sense of actual contact with the mountain world. We are sure to find in it passages that with a few simple words will bring some forgotten mountain picture flashing back to memory with all its first glory renewed. This is particularly true of his recent volume, The Yosemite. It is a treasure-house of wonderful pictures of all the changing phases of the Yosemite year -- of flood-time, with "rejoicing flood waterfalls chanting together in jubilee dress;" of Indian summer, and the "brooding, changeful days" that come between it and winter, "when the leaf colors have grown dim and the clouds come and go among the cliffs like living creatures looking for work;" of "the sunbeams streaming through the snowy High Sierra passes;" of "the sublime darkness of storm nights, when all the lights are out." Review Sierra Club Bulletin, Vol. VIII. No. 4, June 1912.