John Muir: Wilderness Prophet

by Peter Anderson

A biography of the noted nineteenth-century conservationist who founded the Sierra Club and was one of the first people to call attention to the need for environmental protection in the United States

64 pages, Library Binding

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

During the late 1970s and early 80s, Peter Anderson lived in the Upper Arkansas River Valley in Colorado. As a journalist covering a beat just east of the Continental Divide, he reported on everything from school board meetings to the crowning of the rodeo queen for the Mountain Mail, the Pueblo Chieftain, and the Denver Post.

In the late 1980s, while editing the Owen Wister Review and earning an MA in American Studies at the University of Wyoming, he won the Academy of American Poets Award at UW as well as a first place fiction award from the Wyoming Writers Association. After working as publications manager for Canyonlands Natural History Association in Moab, Utah, he taught writing and literature at Salt Lake Community College, worked with state and federal land agencies to develop interpretive texts for trail and museum exhibits, and worked seasonally as a ranger in the High Uinta Wilderness. He also won a grant from the Utah Arts Council to begin work on a collection of essays. During that time he also wrote a dozen children’s books (Falcon Press; Children's Press; Franklin-Watts) including a series on American conservationists, and A Grand Canyon Journey: Tracing Time in Stone (Children's Press; 1996).

In Salt Lake City, he began attending Quaker meeting. After receiving a Cooper Scholarship to attend Earlham School of Religion (ESR), a Quaker seminary, he and his wife Grace left Utah for a farmhouse south of Richmond, Indiana. He graduated with an M.Div. from ESR in 2000, where he subsequently taught writing for several years and coordinated an annual writing conference.

From 2003-2009, Peter served as editor of Pilgrimage Magazine. From 2005-2008, he was the poetry editor for the Mountain Gazette, a widely read publication in the Rocky Mountain region. His collection of essays, First Church of the Higher Elevations (Denver; Ghost Road Press; 2005) explores the ecology of story, spirituality, and landscape. In 2009, he edited Telling it Real: The Best of Pilgrimage Magazine (2009; Pilgrimage Press), an anthology of poetry and nonfiction organized around the themes of story, place, spirit, and witness. More recently, his poems have appeared in several anthologies including New Poets of the American West (Many Voices Press; 2010).

Currently, Peter is working on a collection of essays on various perceptions and understandings of geographical space in the American Southwest. He teaches in the English department at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado and lives with his family on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.

Reviews

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the book that looked like it would be the most informative book on John Muir at my local library, nestled in the children's section (the choices were slim). I didn't expect a lot, but at the very least, I thought the Mt. Whitney hiking group would appreciate the actual photos of John Muir and his life (vs. the color paintings/interpretations I found in the other children's books on John Muir)...and we did!

I did not expect to so much enjoy reading the drama of Muir's life retold by Anderson, and we finished the book with a strong, and new-found appreciation (dare I say, *love*) of John Muir, which we got to appreciate even more as we trekked across a difficult portion of the John Muir Trail.

If you know little about John Muir and want a super quick and enjoyable read, then I recommend picking up this book. I'm planning on checking out Anderson's other books as well, now.