John Muir: Rediscovering America

by Frederick W. Turner

Book Overview

In his stirring biography, Frederick Turner, the distinguished writer and cultural historian, captures the legendary scale of the life of an American icon. Immigrant, inventor, botanist, and founder... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738203750
• ISBN13: 9780738203751
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Biography and Environmental Treatise

I've often been fascinated by John Muir, ever since I started visiting many different national parks out west and seeing his name cited everywhere as an inspiration. If you are interested in environmental ethics and theory (as opposed to simplistic tree-hugging and other poorly-considered theories), and if you have a primal love for the outdoors, then John Muir is your man. Here Frederick Turner has written a solid biography of the man, with all the research and articulation that should be expected. Turner also includes a large dose of Muir's opinions and theories, as well as the historical and political background behind Muir's actions and thought processes. Therefore, what we have here is not just an informative biography on the public person, but an enlightening treatise on environmental ethics and theory, as defined by the brilliant mind of Muir himself.

Mind-opening and fascinating

I finished this book about a week ago. Despite moving on to subsequent reading material, I find that there are parts of Turner's book that I simply can't stop thinking on. For me, they are what makes John Muir's life and legacy so important. There is about a three or four page segment at the end of the chapter entitled "Civilization and Its Discontents," in which Turner presents what appears to be a sea change in America's conception of itself. The change is fundamental in that it consists of a shift from the intellectual and human promise of America as seen through the eyes of Emerson and Thoreau, to the promise of power, wealth, and machines. That is, at one point, people, and their potential for growth and good, were at the center of the American dream. Yet, at some point in the Nineteenth century (possibly at the time of the Civil War) money and wealth became the American dream.Turner is the not the first person to present this argument, as he himself notes. Nor am I certain that his take on this cultural shift is entirely accurate. However, I do think it points out the value that Muir had, and his intellectual descendants have, in directing the national attention back in the direction from which it came--not so much that we should live for nature, but that we should live for people.As for the rest of the book, I found it enjoyable if not without problems. Turner's presentation of Muir's life, including the emotions and conceptualizations that he imagines for him, is thoroughly engaging and seems quite complete. The only problems I encountered are that Turner seems to run out of steam at the end, seeming to skip years of Muir's life at a time, and that Turner has an interesting use of commas in that he doesn't use them very often. If you read this, and I think you should, you'll probably be as interested in reading Muir's own writings as I am.

Insightful and beautifully written

I enjoyed this book very much. Until now I've only read short articles about Muir, so I am not qualified to comment on Turner's accuracy or how comprehensive his book is. But I can tell you it is beautifully written, evoking the world that Muir inhabited... or better yet, the worlds. Because Turner follows the boy John Muir from Scotland to Wisconsin, and then takes us along on all the adult John Muir's extensive travels. We learn about this majestic life that's as full of crags and crannies as the mountains he so loved. And we are left with no doubt about his genius and his incalculable importance to the America we live in today.