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In the Catskills Selections from the Writings of John Burroughs
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- GenresNatureEssaysNonfiction
132 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1910
About the author
John Burroughs
1,031 books177 followersIn 1837, naturalist John Burroughs was born on a farm in the Catskills. After teaching, and clerking in government, Burroughs returned to the Catskills, and devoted his life to writing and gardening. He knew Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir and Walt Whitman, writing the first biography of Whitman. Most of his 22 books are collected essays on nature and philosophy. In In The Light of Day (1900) he wrote about his views on religion: "If we take science as our sole guide, if we accept and hold fast that alone which is verifiable, the old theology must go." "When I look up at the starry heavens at night and reflect upon what is it that I really see there, I am constrained to say, 'There is no God' . . . " In his journal dated Feb. 18, 1910, he wrote: "Joy in the universe, and keen curiosity about it all—that has been my religion." He died on his 83rd birthday. The John Burroughs Sanctuary can be found near West Park, N.Y., and his rustic cabin, Slabsides, has been preserved. D. 1921.
According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, John Burroughs was the most important practitioner after Henry David Thoreau of that especially American literary genre, the nature essay. By the turn of the 20th century he had become a virtual cultural institution[peacock term] in his own right: the Grand Old Man of Nature at a time when the American romance with the idea of nature, and the American conservation movement, had come fully into their own. His extraordinary popularity and popular visibility were sustained by a prolific stream of essay collections, beginning with Wake-Robin in 1871.
In the words of his biographer Edward Renehan, Burroughs' special identity was less that of a scientific naturalist than that of "a literary naturalist with a duty to record his own unique perceptions of the natural world." The result was a body of work whose perfect resonance with the tone of its cultural moment perhaps explains both its enormous popularity at that time, and its relative obscurity since.
Since his death in 1921, John Burroughs has been commemorated by the John Burroughs Association. The association maintains the John Burroughs Sanctuary in Esopus, New York, a 170 acre plot of land surrounding Slabsides, and awards a medal each year to "the author of a distinguished book of natural history".
Twelve U.S. schools have been named after Burroughs, including public elementary schools in Washington, DC and Minneapolis, Minnesota, public middle schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Los Angeles, California, a public high school in Burbank, California, and a private secondary school, John Burroughs School, in St. Louis, Missouri. Burroughs Mountain in Mount Rainier National Park is named in his honor.There was a medal named after John Burroughs and the John Burroughs Association publicly recognizes well-written and illustrated natural history publications. Each year the Burroughs medal is awarded to the author of a distinguished book of natural history, with the presentation made during the Association's annual meeting on the first Monday of April.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bur...
http://research.amnh.org/burroughs/
According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, John Burroughs was the most important practitioner after Henry David Thoreau of that especially American literary genre, the nature essay. By the turn of the 20th century he had become a virtual cultural institution[peacock term] in his own right: the Grand Old Man of Nature at a time when the American romance with the idea of nature, and the American conservation movement, had come fully into their own. His extraordinary popularity and popular visibility were sustained by a prolific stream of essay collections, beginning with Wake-Robin in 1871.
In the words of his biographer Edward Renehan, Burroughs' special identity was less that of a scientific naturalist than that of "a literary naturalist with a duty to record his own unique perceptions of the natural world." The result was a body of work whose perfect resonance with the tone of its cultural moment perhaps explains both its enormous popularity at that time, and its relative obscurity since.
Since his death in 1921, John Burroughs has been commemorated by the John Burroughs Association. The association maintains the John Burroughs Sanctuary in Esopus, New York, a 170 acre plot of land surrounding Slabsides, and awards a medal each year to "the author of a distinguished book of natural history".
Twelve U.S. schools have been named after Burroughs, including public elementary schools in Washington, DC and Minneapolis, Minnesota, public middle schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Los Angeles, California, a public high school in Burbank, California, and a private secondary school, John Burroughs School, in St. Louis, Missouri. Burroughs Mountain in Mount Rainier National Park is named in his honor.There was a medal named after John Burroughs and the John Burroughs Association publicly recognizes well-written and illustrated natural history publications. Each year the Burroughs medal is awarded to the author of a distinguished book of natural history, with the presentation made during the Association's annual meeting on the first Monday of April.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bur...
http://research.amnh.org/burroughs/
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 19, 2020
These are eight essays, written in the 1860s, about the Catskills - part of my personal joy was recognizing so many streams and mountains I have hiked over, swam and fished in, and camped along.
This is definitely a book of the 1860s - nature is loved and appreciated, but not idealized. Animals get shot, and in one instance, brutalized.
He did rekindle my desire to hike Slide Mtn, the highest peak in the Catskills. If anyone wants to join me?
Here is the closing paragraph of the penultimate essay:
I have thus run over some of the features of an ordinary trouting excursion to the woods. People inexperienced in such matters, sitting in their rooms and thinking of these things, of all the poets have sung and romancers written, are apt to get sadly taken in when they attempt to realize their dreams. They expect to enter a sylvan paradise of trout, cool retreats, laughing brooks, picturesque views, and balsamic couches, instead of which they find hunger, rain, smoke, toil, gnats, mosquitoes, dirt, broken rest, vulgar guides, and salt pork; and they are very apt not to see where the fun comes in. But he who goes in a right spirit will not be disappointed, and will find the taste of this kind of life better, though bitterer, than the writers have described.
This is definitely a book of the 1860s - nature is loved and appreciated, but not idealized. Animals get shot, and in one instance, brutalized.
He did rekindle my desire to hike Slide Mtn, the highest peak in the Catskills. If anyone wants to join me?
Here is the closing paragraph of the penultimate essay:
I have thus run over some of the features of an ordinary trouting excursion to the woods. People inexperienced in such matters, sitting in their rooms and thinking of these things, of all the poets have sung and romancers written, are apt to get sadly taken in when they attempt to realize their dreams. They expect to enter a sylvan paradise of trout, cool retreats, laughing brooks, picturesque views, and balsamic couches, instead of which they find hunger, rain, smoke, toil, gnats, mosquitoes, dirt, broken rest, vulgar guides, and salt pork; and they are very apt not to see where the fun comes in. But he who goes in a right spirit will not be disappointed, and will find the taste of this kind of life better, though bitterer, than the writers have described.
June 13, 2024
4.5/5 Way better than I was expecting. I figured that John Burroughs was just some dude that the Catskills loved to promote because he was all they had…but he holds his own as a writer. A great naturalistic appreciator of the Catskills who is very good at glorifying their wildness. Some entertaining stories in there. Really liked his tramp up to Slide and when he rambles about birds. Helps one to see the Catskills in a higher light. Recommend
June 16, 2017
A classic Catskill book so I felt compelled to read but some of it too flowery. Enjoyed the descriptions of particular hikes and tramps. Not sure if I really read all of it or skimmed some. It wasn't as much fun as the Longstreth book for me.
October 10, 2024
This volume offers a taste of Burroughs' ruminations on various aspects of life in The Catskills. The edition I read ends with an essay on his boyhood-a fascinating glimpse into a unique perspective on rural life in the nineteenth century.
December 18, 2014
Imagine an America, a New York State, populated mostly with farms and wilderness. And imagine an observer of this territory, a man with a sharp eye, a deep love of wildlife and adventures in the woods, and an ability to write crisp, expressive, and literate proses. Now put this writer in that setting and you have the brilliant work of Burroughs. He brings to life the Catskill Mountains of those days, with great vividness and plenty of humor, and insights gained from a long life spent patrolling the woods and farming. He was enormously popular in his day, and he deserves to be in ours as well.
This collection, first published in 1910, features eight essays, with a different focus for each. One is about the creatures that come out in the snow. Another is a discussion of foxes and fox hunting. It is important to note that Burroughs had no qualms about killing animals - surely in that time nature's bounty seemed to be inexhaustible, and today's urban/suburban sprawls were not even being imagined. There is a great deal about birds, who seem to have a special fascination for the writer, and he shares his observations about a good many of them. The final essay details a hiking and camping trip he and a few friends took - a very different one from what someone would do today! - bushwhacking through the woods, sleeping on hemlock boughs and in crumbling lean-tos, fishing for their suppers, and with no goretex parkas or tents to keep out the rain.
A personal note - this was the first Kindle book that I have come to the end of - the transition has begun. I especially liked reading it on my phone while on a crowded train, because it would transport me to a very different place - the Catskills of the 1870s (or thereabouts).
This collection, first published in 1910, features eight essays, with a different focus for each. One is about the creatures that come out in the snow. Another is a discussion of foxes and fox hunting. It is important to note that Burroughs had no qualms about killing animals - surely in that time nature's bounty seemed to be inexhaustible, and today's urban/suburban sprawls were not even being imagined. There is a great deal about birds, who seem to have a special fascination for the writer, and he shares his observations about a good many of them. The final essay details a hiking and camping trip he and a few friends took - a very different one from what someone would do today! - bushwhacking through the woods, sleeping on hemlock boughs and in crumbling lean-tos, fishing for their suppers, and with no goretex parkas or tents to keep out the rain.
A personal note - this was the first Kindle book that I have come to the end of - the transition has begun. I especially liked reading it on my phone while on a crowded train, because it would transport me to a very different place - the Catskills of the 1870s (or thereabouts).
December 19, 2015
Terrific description of animal life in winter in the Catskills that could only come from being very close to nature.
Another chapter describes the work involved in living on a farm such as raising buildings, hay mowing, dairy farm operations.
Two chapters on birds, migration, pairing, nest building. More than you may want to know unless you are a birder.
Swashbuckling through wilderness trout fishing in the rain with flies, gnats is the topic of the next two chapters. Camping was rough in 1869.
The last chapter is an encounter with some shy, nearly wild settlers in the woods.
Another chapter describes the work involved in living on a farm such as raising buildings, hay mowing, dairy farm operations.
Two chapters on birds, migration, pairing, nest building. More than you may want to know unless you are a birder.
Swashbuckling through wilderness trout fishing in the rain with flies, gnats is the topic of the next two chapters. Camping was rough in 1869.
The last chapter is an encounter with some shy, nearly wild settlers in the woods.
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April 20, 2017Recommended by Alan Powell (Signal Culture).
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews