Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
John Burroughs (1837-1921) emerged from an obscure boyhood in the Catskill Mountains to write more than thirty books, create the genre of the nature essay, and become the preeminent nature writer of his day. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A Great and Engaging Read
Thorough, eminently readable biography of the boy who grew up in Roxbury, NY and became the friend of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Theodore Roosevelt and many other notables, through his writings on nature. This book paints a very human picture of John Burroughs.

Excellent
I first got turned on to Ed Renehan when I saw him on C-SPAN discussing the book he wrote about the family of Theodore Roosevelt, entitled THE LION'S PRIDE. After enjoying LION'S PRIDE, I purchased and learned a lotfrom Renehan's beautifully written account of John Brown and the HarpersFerry raid, entitled THE SECRET SIX. Then, although I'd never heard of JohnBurroughs, I moved onto this excellent biography of a fascinating butneglected figure of American history, and am glad I did. Now I will turn tosome of Burroughs's own writings, if I can find them!

Exquisite
Ed Renehan has put together an exquisite, instructive review of the long life of John Burroughs. The old lion emerges in all his splendor in these pages -- intellectual, literate (he knew Emerson and Whitman among others),worldly (he had a mistress who was a New York psychiatrist), and above all,a sympathetic observer of the natural world. We need his perspective asnever before. -- John Hanson Mitchell, author of CEREMONIAL TIME, LIVING ATTHE END OF TIME, and other books

A real education
Edward Renehan has restored John Burroughs to his rightful place in the history of American literature and conservation.-- Frank Graham, Jr., author of SINCE SILENT SPRING, THE AUDUBON ARK, and other books

Superb
"Renehan's biography does precisely what it sets out to do: it provides the thorough, responsible, readable biography which has so long been wanting in Burroughs scholarship." -- Ameican Nature Writing,1993 edition ... Read more

Product Description
When the American poet and naturalist John Burroughs opened his door to observe the world around him, his written findings became an inspiration to people all across the country. His published work was both widely read and acclaimed, and Slabsides, his home in the Catskills, became a favorite meetinghouse for such illustrious visitors as Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir. The only biography about Burroughs available for young readers, this abundantly illustrated book is replete with historical anecdotes and engaging details, and offers an intimate look at the life and work of an environmental pioneer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An excellent contribution
Mr. Kanze and I seem to agree on at least one thing, that Ms. Wadsworth's JOHN BURROUGHS: THE SAGE OF SLABSIDES is an excellent contribution. As for my own book, I've searched it for the word "kidnap" and can'tseem to find that phrase anywhere. -- Edward J. Renehan, Jr., author ofJOHN BURROUGHS: AN AMERICAN NATURALIST

This is a terrific book! --- Edward Kanze
Ginger Wadsworth, distinguished author of children's books on John Muir and Rachel Carson, brings the naturalist, literary critic, and philosopher John Burroughs to life in The Sage of Slabsides.As a Burroughs biographermyself (my THE WORLD OF JOHN BURROUGHS was published in 1993 by HarryAbrams, with a deal in the works to revive the book next year inpaperback), I am in a position to judge the quality of Wadsworth'streatment.I think she does a brilliant job of telling the story ofBurroughs's long and eventful life in a way that children will findcaptivating. There are quotes from Burroughs's published writings, journalentries, and an array of fine photographs, all well chosen to appeal tokids.The scholarship is first-rate, too.For example, Wadsworth notesthe adoption of Burroughs's son, Julian, in July, 1878, as is documented inhis journal, rather than repeating the false claim of Edward Renehan's JOHNBURROUGHS: AN AMERICAN NATURALIST that the boy was essentially kidnappedfrom its biological mother in April.The secret of Burroughs's success maybe that, with his playful humor and passion for nature and theout-of-doors, he remained a kid at heart throughout his nearly 84 years. He had a genius for passing along his childlike enthusiasm to others, whichexplains why people could not get enough of his company.Wadsworth keepsup the tradition.Boys, girls, and adults reading this book will likely beinspired to walk a few of Burroughs's forest paths. ... Read more

Product Description
John Burroughs was one of the earliest and most articulate pioneers of the United States conservation movement, publishing twenty-eight books on the natural world during the height of the Industrial Revolution. As an author, teacher, and poet, he wrote with intimacy and feeling, illustrating verbal landscapes and providing philosophical insights about the environment. People by the hundreds of thousands relished his writings. The World of John Burroughs focuses not only on his work, but also on Burroughs's personal life. His friends included Walt Whitman, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, and John Muir. The text is enhanced by Burroughs's essays and poems, and, uniquely, by endearing recollections of his granddaughter. With engaging narrative and illuminating photographs by author Edward Kanze, The World of John Burroughs celebrates Burroughs's dedication to studying the world and making nature come to life on the written page.
Amazon.com Review
Friend of Walt Whitman, companion to Theodore Roosevelt, andfriendly rival of John Muir, John Burroughs is seldom read today. Butin the last decades of the 19th century, his prolific nature essayshelped spawn the Nature Study movement and made him an internationalcelebrity. In 1875 Henry James praised his "real genius" for naturalhistory and called him a "more humorous, more available, and moresociable Thoreau." In this illustrated biography, Edward Kanzesketches the trajectory of Burroughs's long career, from his childhoodon a farm in the Catskills to his decades in retirement along theHudson River.

As early as 1871, when his first book of natureessays was published, Burroughs was acclaimed as an American GilbertWhite, the pioneering British naturalist and author of The NaturalHistory of Selborne. Readers were charmed by Burroughs'senthusiastic accounts of ordinary walks made extraordinary by keenobservation. By the late 1880s, when his first collection of natureessays for children was published, he was one of America's mostpopular interpreters of the natural world. He kept writing until 1921,when he died at the age of 84.

Edward Kanze, a naturalist andwriter, has written an engaging narrative that nevertheless leaves thereader hungry for more information. The photographs, though pleasant,are sometimes tangential: "mourning doves reminded Burroughs of theirextinct relations, the passenger pigeons," reads one caption. Thebiography may succeed as an introduction to Burroughs's life, but inthe end one wishes for more of the master's own prose and a bettersense of its social context. --Pete Holloran ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

A Joy to Read
Well researched, embellished with the author's gorgeous photos, this book is a joy to read.It is a biography and more!

For the mind and the eyes
The World of John Burroughs is a very readable biography of this great naturalist and writer. It is also refreshment for the eyes. Many photographs help portray the land and people that helped to shape this man.As a great grand niece of JB, I highly recommend this book for its accuracyand beauty.

Too brief
There is a lot more to the story of John Burroughs than what is included here. We need to understand the social and historical context in which Burroughs lived and wrote, and Kanze does not help us.

Good pics but brief bio
This large-format table-top picture book provides a wealth of photographs of John Burroughs but a very light and brief biography of the man. There is not much text. Great illustrations, but for details on JB's life goelsewhere.

Clear prose, meticulous research, stunningillustration
John Burroughs, the naturalist and philosopher, was a best-seller in his day (the late 19th century and early 20th), a Thoreau without rough edges and politics. If he has enjoyed a revival in recent years it is probablydue to Ed Kanze's stunningly written and attractively presented biography,"The World of John Burroughs,'' published by Abrams in 1993, and nowout of print. The good news: Sierra Club Books has come out with thispaperback version. Some of Burroughs is dated today, and as Kanze notes, hepublished some mediocre essays along with the good stuff. But much ofBurroughs' nature writings are brilliant in their painstaking observationand solid prose:

"Most persons think the bee gets honey from theflowers, but she does not: honey is a product of the bee; it is the nectarof the flowers with the bee added. What the bee gets from the flower issweet water: this she puts through a process of her own and imparts to ither own quality."

Kanze, like a good conversationalist, leads thereader gently through Burroughs' life and writings. Burroughs was a real19th-century figure: He consorted with the literary likes of John Muir andWilliam Dean Howells and in later life was a favorite of Teddy Rooseveltand Henry Ford -- not to mention the Vassar girls who visited him at hisrustic Hudson Valley hideaway, Slabsides. (Burroughs' private life was, ina word, difficult, and Kanze is unstinting in dealing with the birth of hisone -- illegitimate -- child.) It is not surprising that Kanze is anaturalist himself and has been a museum curator. The book has the feel ofa nature walk or a good museum exhibit, in which a subject not readilyfamiliar to the reader becomes fascinating with the help of a terrificguide. There are well-chosen historical photographs and the luminous naturephotography of the author, each photo chosen for its relevance to one oranother passage from Burroughs' work. Particularly moving are the photos ofBurroughs in Slabsides; paired with Kanze's own color photos of the house'spreserved interior.You find your eye traveling back and forth from the oldphoto to the new, to see the same fireplace stone here, the unpeeled birchdesk there. ... Read more