John Muir 
Travels in Alaska (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

This 1915 masterpiece of nature writing was based on Muir’s personal experiences on long expeditions into the Alaskan wilderness beginning in 1879.  For Muir, encounters with nature were sacred, and his prose combines the meticulous observation of a scientist with the spiritual insights of a holy man—one who worshipped at the altar of the natural world.

About the author

John Muir (1838-1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist and conservationist.  He founded the Sierra Club.  A fierce advocate of wilderness protection, Muir influenced President Theodore Roosevelt’s national park system and, through his passionate, often unabashedly spiritual writings, helped to shape Americans’ attitudes toward wilderness preservation and land stewardship.