From the book jacket:
"The narratives in this book are of journeys made in three wildernesses -- on a coastal island, in a Western mountain range, and on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Four men are involved:
- Charles Park, a mineral engineer who believes that our economic well-being rests on finding metals and extracting them from the earth wherever they are found;
- Charles Fraser, a resort developer who regards all conservationists as druids ("religious figures who sacrifice people and worship trees");
- Floyd Dominy, a builder of gigantic dams, who grew up in dry Western country and deeply believes in the impoundment of water; and
- David Brower, the most militant conservationist in the world.
In turn, Park, Fraser, and Dominy encounter Brower, whether in rapids, in forests, on mountain trails, on a reft, in a jeep, or on foot -- now reserved, now friendly, now fighting hard across a philosophical divide."
We plan eventually to include the following elements in this section of the LAEC330 WEB site relating to Brower's book:
To learn about David Brower's visit to Spokane's Expo '74, click here.
Click here to visit a site on the World Wide Web that includes a description of Encounters with the Archdruid and sample passages. Or visit a John McPhee page.
Click here to go to David Brower's home page, which includes his "Credo for the Earth," information about his lecture, "CPR for the Earth," biographical data, and information on two of his books.
Click here to go to information
about "Earth Island Institute," the environmental group for which
Brower is chairman. The institute describes itself as "An Innovative
Network of Diverse Environmental Projects."
These are the three sections in McPhee's book.
Select one for annotations on the material in that section.
Part 1 A Mountain
Part 2 An Island
Part 3 A River
This link takes you to a discussion of other revealing encounters
between individuals with different views as to the proper
relationship between the individual and the natural world.