John Muir

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the present civilization," he argued in the early essay "Wild Wool" ( 1875; later included in Steep Trails , 1918), "seems to form so insuperable an obstacle in the way of a right understanding of the relations which culture sustains to wildness as that which regards the world as made especially for the uses of man."Muir filled some 60 journals with the observations he made during years of hiking in and studying the wilderness. Drawing heavily on these, he wrote dozens of sketches and essays for local newspapers and for popular American magazines such as Century , Overland Monthly , and the Atlantic Monthly , many of which were later revised for inclusion in his books. In spite of this considerable output, Muir found writing very difficult. Recording observations in personal journals was one thing; reporting them to the public, quite another. When he had to address a broader audience, words came to him "slow as a glacier." The Mountains of California ( 1894), his first and possibly ...

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