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John Muir agreed in 1881 to sail aboard the Corwin, whose fruitless
mission it was to search for the missing scientific research vessel
Jeannette, which itself became icebound while exploring the distant
and mysterious Wrangell Land in the higher latitudes of the Arctic.
This cruise would afford Muir the opportunity to examine evidence
of glaciation along the arctic coastlines of Siberia and Alaska and
the harmonious lifestyle of Inuits and Chukchis, which was in the
midst of disruption from the intrusions of the civilized South.
“John Muir was certainly as concerned for the potential loss of
marvelous arctic cultures as he was for our continent’s vanishing
wilderness. In this sense, THE CRUISE OF THE CORWIN truly deserves
our attention, especially in light of all that is happening in the
Arctic today.” –Richard Fleck
Inspired by his ranger days in Rocky Mountain National Park more
than forty-five years ago as well as more recent rambles, Richard
Fleck has created these descriptive essays that take readers from
shimmering desert heat to snowy summits. Fleck has expanded his
acclaimed book Breaking Through the Clouds (2004) to create a new
book that concentrates on the intermountain American West. This
edition includes counterpoint experiences in the desert, canyon
lands, and dry prairie far below the summits of the lofty peaks,
such as Death Valley, Grand Gulch, Grand Canyon, and the Great Sand
Dunes. His literary model was Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire and
his intent is to involve readers with an equally potent but
different kind of natural reality. Fleck says, “After all, do not
mountains rise out of deserts and dry lands? Mountains and
surrounding deserts should not be separated.” The mountains are a
constant source of spiritual renewal for this author, enabling him
to become more aware and whole.
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The Maine Woods (Paperback)
Henry David Thoreau; Foreword by Richard F Fleck
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R580
R374
Discovery Miles 3 740
Save R206 (36%)
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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Posthumously published in 1864, The Maine Woods depicts Henry David
Thoreau’s experiences in the forests of Maine, and expands on the
author’s transcendental theories on the relation of humanity to
Nature. On Mount Katahdin, he faces a primal, untamed Nature.
Katahdin is a place “not even scarred by man, but it was a
specimen of what God saw fit to make this world.” In Maine he
comes in contact with “rocks, trees, wind and solid earth” as
though he were witness to the creation itself. Of equal importance,
The Maine Woods depicts Thoreau’s contact with the American
Indians and depicts his tribal education of learning the language,
customs, and mores of the Penobscot people. Thoreau attempts to
learn and speak the Abenaki language and becomes fascinated with
its direct translation of natural phenomena as in the word
sebamook—a river estuary that never loses is water despite
having an outlet because it also has an inlet. The Maine Woods
illustrates the author’s deeper understanding of the complexities
of the primal wilderness of uplifted rocky summits in Maine and
provides the reader with the pungent aroma of balsam firs, black
spruce, mosses, and ferns as only Thoreau could. This new,
redesigned edition features an insightful foreword by Thoreau
scholar Richard Francis Fleck. Redesigned edition featuring an
insightful foreword by Thoreau scholar Richard Francis Fleck. Fleck
is a well-respected authority on Thoreau and the author of many
books including Henry Thoreau and John Muir Among the Indians.
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American
author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister,
development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading
transcendentalist. This book was first published in 1864 (composed
partly of articles he had written earlier for periodicals) and
still in print, is an insightful reporter’s picture of a rugged
wilderness the moment before being irrevocably altered by armies of
loggers. Today the virgin forest seen by Thoreau is gone; trees
have been cut, regrown, and harvested again. But modern travelers
— hikers, campers, hunters, fishers, canoeists or back road
wanderers — will still find, as Thoreau did, a land “more grim
and wild than you had anticipated.” It’s also pin-drop
tranquil, teeming with wildlife and, in places, challenging to
reach. (NYTimes) Following Thoreau into the Maine Woods is hardly a
new idea, but it is becoming easier. The Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail was
inaugurated, delineating and celebrating Thoreau’s passage on
routes that Penobscot Indians had used for thousands of years.
(NYTimes) Nature tourism is a $37 billion annual industry in the
United States (Outdoor Industry Association).
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A Yankee in Canada (Hardcover)
Henry David Thoreau; Foreword by Richard F Fleck
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R658
R550
Discovery Miles 5 500
Save R108 (16%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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In the fall of 1850 Henry Thoreau embarked upon an excursion into
the French-Canadian province of Quebec, with stops in Montreal and
Quebec City. His reactions to the foreign country are mixed and
ambivalent: he is critical of Canada’s Old World Catholicism,
feudalism, and an alien British military presence while most of his
references to America and Americans are favorable. But if one looks
closely, positive reactions to Canadian society and negative
reactions to American society do exist within the essay. A YANKEE
IN CANADA is a study in paradox, the paradox being due to a man
stunned by his only international experience. In this sense A
YANKEE IN CANADA parallels Mark Twain’s INNOCENTS ABROAD in that
both authors are experiencing culture shock expressed with all the
elements of a mental twilight zone of grays, not just black and
white. Unlike the many facsimile reproductions available, this
edition features a modern design that enhances readability. A
YANKEE IN CANADA is now part of the Literary Naturalist Series and
features a new foreword by noted literary scholar Richard F. Fleck.
This set of timeless essays from the quintessential American shares
his valuable philosophies on nature, solitude, slavery, religion,
politics, fulfilling work, civil responsibilities, and more.
WALDEN, Thoreau’s beloved and well-known reflection upon simple
living in natural surroundings, looks at how the outside world can
benefit from renouncing a materialistic way of life. “If the
machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to
be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the
law.” —Thoreau “If a plant cannot live according to its
nature, it dies; and so a man.” —Thoreau His other essays deal
with the social problems of his time: CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE applies
principles of individualism to civil life, culminating in a call
for a life that answers to a power outside of and unaffected by the
state. LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE offers his program for a righteous
livelihood through ten “commandments.” SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
is based on a speech he gave at an antislavery rally after the
re-enslavement of fugitive slave Anthony Burns and relates that
freedom could not exist while slavery remained. PLEA FOR CAPTAIN
JAMES BROWN portrays his kinship to Brown’s abolitionist efforts
and anger toward the injustice Brown received. “Thoreau was a
great writer, philosopher, poet, and withal a most practical man,
that is, he taught nothing he was not prepared to practise in
himself. . . . He went to gaol for the sake of his principles and
suffering humanity. His essay has, therefore, been sanctified by
suffering. Moreover, it is written for all time. Its incisive logic
is unanswerable.” —Mohandas Gandhi “. . . when, in the
mid-1950s, the United States Information Service included as a
standard book in all their libraries around the world a textbook .
. . which reprinted Thoreau’s ‘Civil Disobedience,’ the late
Senator Joseph McCarthy succeeded in having that book removed from
the shelves—specifically because of the Thoreau essay.”
—Walter Harding, in The Variorum Civil Disobedience "I became
convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral
obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been
more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry
David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we
are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest." —Martin Luther
King, Jr., Autobiography
Inspired by his ranger days in Rocky Mountain National Park more
than forty-five years ago as well as more recent rambles, Richard
Fleck has created these descriptive essays that take readers from
shimmering desert heat to snowy summits. Fleck has expanded his
acclaimed book Breaking Through the Clouds (2004) to create a new
book that concentrates on the intermountain American West. This
edition includes counterpoint experiences in the desert, canyon
lands, and dry prairie far below the summits of the lofty peaks,
such as Death Valley, Grand Gulch, Grand Canyon, and the Great Sand
Dunes. His literary model was Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire and
his intent is to involve readers with an equally potent but
different kind of natural reality. Fleck says, "After all, do not
mountains rise out of deserts and dry lands? Mountains and
surrounding deserts should not be separated." The mountains are a
constant source of spiritual renewal for this author, enabling him
to become more aware and whole.
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