Printer-friendly version Share:  Share this page on FacebookShare this page on TwitterShare this page by emailShare this page with other services

The World of John Muir

From the Editors of The Pacific Historian Lawrence R. Murphy and Dan Collins


Book Cover - The World of John Muir - from the Editors of The Pacific Historian Lawrence R. Murphy and Dan Collins Published by the Holt-Atherton Pacific Center for Western Studies, University of the Pacific, 1981

( from the book's front matter )


The World of John Muir
from the Editors of The Pacific Historian Lawrence R. Murphy and Dan Collins
Published by the Holt-Atherton Pacific Center for Western Studies, University of the Pacific
(Stockton University of the Pacific, 1981).
ISBN: 931-156-08-04

Webmaster's Introduction:

Since 1980, California's University of the Pacific in Stockton has hosted a series of conferences on John Muir, promoting the legacy of the famed environmentalist. This book is from the first of these conferences, containing the papers presented at the University of the Pacific in 1980.

The cover features a painting of John Muir by his sister Mary Muir Hand, courtesy of the National Park Service. The back cover features in Muir's own handwriting: "Climb the mountains & get their good tidings. John Muir."

This 91 page paperback is richly illustrated with numerous black and white photographs and sketches.

 


Table of Contents

The Transcendental Wilderness Aesthetics of John Muir
by Daniel B. Weber

John Muir: From Poetry to Politics, 1871-1876
by Robert Engberg

Stormy Sermons
by Michael Cohen

John Muir and the Alaska Gold Rush
by Frank E. Buske

John Muir's Enlightenment
by Thomas J. Lyon

John Muir and the Human Part of the Mountain's Destiny
by Donald Wesling

John Muir, The Sierra Club, and the Formulation of the Wilderness Concept
by Holway R. Jones

The Martinez Years: The Family Life and Letters of John Muir
by P. J. Ryan

Honors Come to John Muir in the Land of His Birth
by William F. Kimes

 


John Muir, The Eminent Scientist Sketch - front page detail from the San Francisco Examiner of August 18, 1897, courtesy of the California State Library, Sacramento

Author biographies from article annotations:

Daniel B. Weber: Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Daniel Weber received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in1964. He is currently Associate Professor of American Literature and Studies at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant. In addition, he has served as the Director of the American Studies Program there since 1972.

Robert Engberg: Born and raised in San Diego, Robert Engberg now teaches in La Jolla where he specializes in the education of gifted children. An avid backpacker and member of the Sierra Club, he has contributed articles to several publications focusing on the outdoors. He co-edited (along with Donald Wesling) John Muir: To Yosemite and Beyond, which was published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1980.

Michael Cohen: Michael Cohen received his Ph.D. in English from the University of California at Irvine in 1973. The author of several articles focusing on the environmental theme, he was awarded a research fellowship by the National Endowment for the Humanities for 1980-81. Aside from his responsibilities as Associate Professor of English at Southern Utah State College, Cohen enjoys mountaineering. In addition to ascents in the Sierra, Tetons, and Canadian Rockies, he has joined expeditions to Mt. Mckinley and Afghanistan.

Frank E. Buske: Frank Buske, Ph.D. is Head of both the Department of English and Cross Cultural Communications at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where he also teaches American Literature. he is the editor of Wilderness Essays by John Muir , which was published in 1980. He is currently on sabbatical leave, preparing a biography of Muir due to be released next winter.

Thomas J. Lyon: Thomas Lyon has been associated with Utah State University at Logan since undergraduate days. He received his master's degree there in 1961 and has been on the staff since 1964; he currently holds tenure as an Associate Professor of English. In addition, he is editor of Western American Literature quarterly published by the university. His works include a book on John Muir issued by Boise State University as part of their series on western writers.

Donald Wesling: Donald Wesling has been an Associate Professor of English at the University of California at San Diego since 1970. A native of Buffalo, New York, he received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1965. Included among his published works is John Muir, To Yosemite and Beyond, and anthology edited with Robert Engberg.

Holway R. Jones: Holway R. Jones received his Master of Arts degree in American History from the University of California Berkeley in 1957. He is presently Professor and Head Reference Librarian at the University of Oregon in Eugene. An active participant in the affairs of the Sierra Club, Mr. Jones formally served on the organization's Board of Directors and has also been chairman of the club's Publications and Wilderness committees. Author of John Muir and the Sierra Club: The Battle for Yosemite, Mr. Jones in preparing a second volume covering the activities of the Sierra Club from the time of Muir's death up to World War II.

P.J. Ryan: P.J. Ryan is park historian at the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez. Born in South Dakota and al alumnus of Arizona State University, Mr. Ryan has served as interpreter and park range at eight national parks and monuments during his twenty years with the National Park Service.

William F. Kimes: A graduate of University of the Pacific, William F. Kimes is best known for John Muir, a Reading Bibliography, co-authored with his wife Maymie. His research on the naturalist has taken him to such wide ranging locations as Scotland, Alaska, and the Amazon. He was the consultant for the PBS film Earth, Planet, Universe, as well as for the Muir publications by the National Geographic Society. The Kimes reside in the Mariposa foothills, not far from Yosemite.


Following the publication of this book, the University of the Pacific has published a series of addditional books as the proceedings of its conferences, with publications in 1985, 1993, 1999,

and 2005. Subsequent conference material has been published in the University's John Muir Newsletter.

 

 

Image: John Muir, The Eminent Scientist Sketch - front page detail from the San Francisco Examiner of August 18, 1897, courtesy of the California State Library, Sacramento, republished on page 47 of this book.


Additional Muir Conferences


 


Return to Book Jacket Summaries
Return to Bibliographic Resources


Home | Alphabetical Index | What's New  


Sierra Club® and "Explore, enjoy and protect the planet"® are registered trademarks of the Sierra Club. © 2024 Sierra Club.
The Sierra Club Seal is a registered copyright, service mark, and trademark of the Sierra Club.