Description: With a strong political tone and shrewd, subtle manoeuvring, Muir uses Our National Parks to persuade his readership of the necessity of nature and national parks for human recreation and more importantly for health and wellbeing, as well as the - in his mind - obvious need for preservation of wild ecosystems.
Brief description: Terry Gifford is a rock climber, author and editor of poetry and academic books on the subject of literature and the environment, with titles including The Joy of Climbing, The Rope, Pastoral and the complete works of John Muir in two volumes: John Muir: The Eight Wilderness-Discovery Books and John Muir: His Life and Letters and Other Writings. He was founding director of the annual International Festival of Mountaineering Literature for twenty-one years, and is former chair of the Mountain Heritage Trust. Today he is visiting scholar at Bath Spa University's Centre for Writing and Environment and professor honorifico at the University of Alicante in Spain.