John A. Murray

Offers advice for transforming experiences of nature and the outdoors into writing, from journals and essays to poetry and fiction, and provides examples by noted nature writers

A Creative Guide

The Sierra Club Nature Writing Handbook

"The spell of Alaska," Ella Higginson wrote in 1908, "falls upon every lover of beauty who has voyaged along those far northern snow-pearled shores...or who has drifted down the mighty rivers of the interior which flow, bell-toned and lonely, to the sea....No writer has ever described Alaska; no one writer ever will; but each must do his share, according to the spell that the country casts upon him." In A Republic of Rivers, John Murray offers the first comprehensive anthology of nature writing in Alaska and the Yukon, ranging from 1741 to the present. Many of the writers found here are major figures--John Muir, Jack London, Annie Dillard, Barry Lopez, and Edward Abbey--but we also discover the voices of missionaries, explorers, mountain-climbers, Native Americans, miners, scientists, backpackers, and fishermen, each trying to capture something of the beauty of this still pristine land, to render in their own words the spell that the country casts upon them. The range of viewpoints is remarkable. With Annie Dillard we look out at ice floes near the remote Barter Island and see "what newborn babies must see: nothing but senseless variations of light on the retinas." With Frederick Litke we mourn the senseless slaughter of sea mammals. We join scientist Adolph Murie, the father of wolf ecology, as he probes the daily life of an East Fork wolf pack. And we listen as Tlingit Indian Johnny Jack relates the difficulty of maintaining a dignified life close to nature at a time of cultural upheaval for his people. Most of these selections have never appeared in any anthology and some entries--particularly those written by early American and Russian explorers--have never been available to general readers. There is laughter here and there is sorrow, but finally there is communion and liberation as generation after generation encounter the unsurpassed beauty and wildness of the Arctic. Taken together, these forty-nine men and women provide a unique portrait of America's final frontier.

Three Centuries of Nature Writing from Alaska and the Yukon

A Republic of Rivers

What happens if you combine history with the personal thoughts from a couple’s lifelong diary and journal entries and the creative writings of a modern-day—ahem—author? This is exactly what you will discover within the pages of this story. Come and take a trip through a combination of songs, poetry, personal thoughts, and a small expedition through a few historical events that you may not have learned about in school. It all begins with the renovation of an old Victorian house built in 1904 in Paris, Texas. This is book number 2 in the Still Searching series currently underway by Mr. Murray.

Poems and Songs for the Lost Soul in Each of Us

Still Searching for Eden

This selection of Arctic-American literature covers both Alaska and the Yukon and includes writings by literary figures, missionaries, explorers, climbers, miners, scientists, backpackers, fishermen and native people, with a common theme of 'wild nature'. Selections date from 1741 to 1989.

More than twenty-five years after his death, iconic writer and nature activist Edward Abbey (1929–1989) remains an influential presence in the American environmental movement. Abbey’s best known works continue to be widely read and inspire discourse on the key issues facing contemporary American society, particularly with respect to urbanization and technology. Abbey in America, published forty years after Abbey’s popular novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, features an all-star list of contributors, including journalists, authors, scholars, and two of Abbey’s best friends as they explore Abbey’s ideas and legacy through their unique literary, personal, and scholarly perspectives.

A Philosopher's Legacy in a New Century

Abbey in America

This book is a combination of poetry / song lyrics, art, and personal reflection.

Words About Life . . . Words About Death . . . and Words That Seem Right When There’s Nothing Else Left

Still Searching for Oz

Essays by Edward Hoagland, Barry Lopez, Farley Mowat, and others deal with the characteristics, behavior, and lifecycle of the wolf

Contemporary Writings on the Wolf

Out Among the Wolves

Originally published by the Sierra Club in 1995, this handbook covers genres, techniques, and publication issues for aspiring writers, scholars, and students who want to share their experiences in nature and the outdoors.

Writing about Nature

John Allen Murray

This is an advance reading sampler for "A republic of rivers: three centuries of nature writing from Alaska and the Yukon."

David Earl Brown

This collection of true stories about grizzly and black bears in the greater southwest from the 1820s to present day demonstrates changing attitudes toward bears and the preservation of the animals and their habitats

The Last Grizzly and Other Southwestern Bear Stories

America's red rock desert is a place unlike any other -- such a marvelous fusion of form and color -- and Another Country is a correspondingly unique song of praise. Pairing fifteen essays with fifteen short stories, acclaimed writer John A. Murray takes you deep into this wonderland, one of the most remarkable regions on Earth. The territory Murray celebrates is a vast triangle in the heart of the Colorado Plateau, a region embracing slickrock canyons, blue mesas, snow-capped peaks and the world's greatest concentration of national parks and monuments.

John A. Murray

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