John MuirJohn Muir

In 1849, eleven-year-old John Muir immigrated from Scotland to America. Here, he rose from farmer and sawmill worker to become a noted authority on the botany, glaciers, and forestry of the nation's wilderness. Best known for his long association with the Yosemite Valley and the Sierra Nevada of California, Muir also explored, mostly afoot, the southern states, Alaska, the Great Basin, and the Mojave Desert. His studies of nature took him around the world and generated volumes of poetic,
evocative writings.
As America expanded relentlessly westward, Muir witnessed the plunder and exploitation of the land and became a driving force in efforts to protect the natural world. Married and the father of two doting daughters, he was a modest and private man, but his conservationist views forced him into battle with powerful political and industrial interests. Some battles he won, influencing four U.S. presidents to sponsor legislation that protected forests and established or expanded America's
national parks.
Muir lost his last, and perhaps most personal, battle. He fought until near the end of his life to prevent the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park from becoming a reservoir for the city of San Francisco. Some of his conservationist friends believed the conflict so sapped his physical, emotional, and spiritual strength that it contributed to his death.
Remembered as the founder of the Sierra Club, father of America's conservation movement, and architect of a still-growing wilderness ethic, Muir set an example many still follow, fighting today's threats to the environment. Book jacket.