Overview
The Lyons Press is proud to announce the third book in its series of nature anthologies in partnership with The Nature Conservancy - the renowned conservation organization over 900,000 members strong, whose protection efforts span the globe. In this volume we celebrate the mountains of the world with twenty-two literary works that range over three continents and two hundred years, including: John Muir on crossing the Cumberland Mountains; Henry David Thoreau on Maine's Ktaadn; Rob Schultheis on the Colorado Plateau: Isabella Byrd's bold ascent in the Rocky Mountains in the 1870s; David Rains Wallace on the Central American mountain ranges; a Denali rescue mission recounted by Jonathan Waterman; and Jon Krakauer on climbing Devil's Thumb.The mystical powers of mountains inspire writers to heights of clarity and insight. Share the experiences of William Bartram, Aldo Leopold, Barbara Kingsolver, William O. Douglas, Rick Bass, Dave Petersen, A. B. Guthrie Jr., and a host of the finest nature writers past and present. For anyone who loves the mountains, for appreciators of fine natural history as well as those who love climbing literature, The Mountain Reader will be an exhilarating experience. (6 x 9, 312 pages)Synopsis
This rich volume celebrates the mountains of the world with twenty-two literary works that range over three continents and two hundred years.
Library Journal
As with Murray's other recent compilation (Nature Writing 2000), the 22 essays in this anthology range from thoughtful meditations (Henry David Thoreau and William O. Douglas) to more technical scientific observation (John Muir and William Byrd) and also include essays that use the mountain as metaphor for grappling with personal ordeals. Although the quality of the writing itself is good overall, a far more complete and focused collection of writings with mountains as the topic is found in The Mountain World, edited by Gregory McNamee (LJ 7/00). While Murray's collection is limited to North America and a few centuries, McNamee's work covers (albeit briefly) over two millennia and 42 writers from extremely diverse cultures and is an excellent starting point for further research. Murray's effort is recommended only to large public libraries housing large nature writing collections.--Angela Weiler, SUNY Libs., Morrisville, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\