In the late 1800s, John Muir made several trips to the pristine, relatively unexplored territory of Alaska, irresistibly drawn to its awe-inspiring glaciers and its wild menagerie of bears, bald eagles, wolves, and whales. Half-poet and half-geologist, he recorded his experiences and reflections in Travels in Alaska, a work he was in the process of completing at the time of his death in 1914. As Edward Hoagland writes in his Introduction, A century and a quarter later, we are reading [Muir’s] account because there in the glorious fiords … he is at our elbow, nudging us along, prompting us to understand that heaven is on earth–is the Earth–and rapture is the sensible response wherever a clear line of sight remains.
This Modern Library Paperback Classic includes photographs from the original 1915 edition.