The Road of a Naturalist

About this book

The Road of a Naturalist is a fascinating autobiographical wonder written by one of America's most beloved naturalists at the height of his fame. A scientist, a philosopher, and a poet, Donald Culross Peattie takes us on an confessional journey across the landscape of his life. Told in flashbacks of years past and interspersed with impressions of a journey by motorcar across the American West, it is intensely personal. It is American in the best sense of the word. From saying goodbye to the trees at his childhood home on Lake Michigan to a man formed via Harvard and New York City, finally discovering a belief in the nature of things in a cabin in the Grand Tentons, it is not told as as linear life story but rather an adventure in living, in science, in thought.

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Biography

Donald Culross Peattie (1898-1964) was one of the most influential American nature writers of the 20th century. Peattie was born in Chicago and grew up in Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, which sparked his interest in the immense wonders of nature. He studied at the University of Chicago and Harvard University. After working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he decided to pursue a career as a writer. In 1925 he became a nature columnist for the Washington Star Newspaper and subsequently went on to pen more than twenty fiction and nonfiction books in the next five decades. Widely acclaimed and popular in his age, his legacy has been attributed as inspiring a modern age of nature writing.