Michael P. Branch & Daniel J. Philippine, Editors

Foreword by John Elder
paper
456 pages, 6 x 9 1/4
b&w photographs, b&w illustrations

“The height of our mountains,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia,”has not yet been estimated with any degree of exactness.” In this sweeping anthology of nearly four centuries of nature writing from the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Michael P. Branch and Daniel J. Philippine take the full measure of this remarkably rich natural and literary landscape.

Beginning with Captain John Smith’s eager gaze westward in search of gold and ending with contemporary essayist John Daniel’s gaze inward in search of wilderness, this volume collects the works of seventy of the nation’s finest writers on nature since 1607. The book also includes a critical introduction to the character and form of nature writing, the concepts of place and bioregionalism, and the literary natural history of the Blue Ridge region, as well as detailed notes to the selections and an extensive bibliographical essay. Beautifully illustrated with historical paintings, drawings, engravings, and maps, The Height of Our Mountains will prove a lasting treasure to readers, scholars, and travelers alike.

“The Height of Our Mountains will without a doubt be an extraordinary resource for the residents of the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley, but because of its remarkable inclusiveness and the vividness of its selections, it will also be invaluable for the rest of us, who—as teachers, writers, citizens, family members, and naturalists—are striving to identify ourselves more knowingly, joyfully, and faithfully with our own home in nature.”

—John Elder, Middlebury College