The World of John Burroughs: The Life and Work of One of America's Greatest Naturalists

As the editor of a forthcoming book of essays on John Burroughs, I have found The World of John Burroughs an invaluable resource. Its author is an in-the-field naturalist as well as a superb writer and scholar. The beautiful format of The World of John Burroughs might mislead readers to look at the pictures and ignore Edward Kanze's superb writing and painstaking research; but the book is filled with factual and verbal treasure-- including the most recent and complete research on the fascinating story behind the birth of Julian Burroughs. Most of all, this book helps to renew our awareness of the continuing relevance and liveliness of John Burroughs's contribution to American nature writing.

Ed Kanze's "The World of John Burroughs" provides a compelling and fascinating portrayal of this remarkable American naturalist. Kanze's prose, quality of research, and synthesis of this great writer's life make "The World of John Burroughs" an essential addition to the library of any naturalist, outdoor writer, or student of the conservation movement in the United States.

John Burroughs, the naturalist and philosopher, was a best-seller in his day (the late 19th century and early 20th), a Thoreau without rough edges and politics. If he has enjoyed a revival in recent years it is probably due to Ed Kanze's stunningly written and attractively presented biography, "The World of John Burroughs,'' published by Abrams in 1993, and now out of print. The good news: Sierra Club Books is coming out with a paperback version in fall 1999. Some of Burroughs is dated today, and as Kanze notes, he published some mediocre essays along with the good stuff. But much of Burroughs' nature writings are brilliant in their painstaking observation and solid prose: "Most persons think the bee gets honey from the flowers, but she does not: honey is a product of the bee; it is the nectar of the flowers with the bee added. What the bee gets from the flower is sweet water: this she puts through a process of her own and imparts to it her own quality." Kanze, like a good conversationalist, leads the reader gently through Burroughs' life and writings. Burroughs was a real 19th-century figure: He consorted with the literary likes of John Muir and William Dean Howells and in later life was a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Ford -- not to mention the Vassar girls who visited him at his rustic Hudson Valley hideaway, Slabsides. (Burroughs' private life was, in a word, difficult, and Kanze is unstinting in dealing with the birth of his one -- illegitimate -- child.) It is not surprising that Kanze is a naturalist himself and has been a museum curator. The book has the feel of a nature walk or a good museum exhibit, in which a subject not readily familiar to the reader becomes fascinating with the help of a terrific guide. There are well-chosen historical photographs and the luminous nature photography of the author, each photo chosen for its relevance to one or another passage from Burroughs' work. Particularly moving are the photos of Burroughs in Slabsides; paired with Kanze's own color photos of the house's preserved interior.You find your eye traveling back and forth from the old photo to the new, to see the same fireplace stone here, the unpeeled birch desk there.

I commend this book as a wonderful look at Burroughs from a writer who is a respected authority on the subject. The text is well-researched and well-written, and the photographs are magnificent. But what makes Kanze really stand out is his excellent -- and lively -- command of the language. I've enjoyed this author's other books -- as well as his newspaper column -- for years. He is one of America's finest natural history writers.

Ed Kanze has put together the one book on John Burroughs all Burroughs admirer's would want to have! He sheds light on the history, the motivation, and the perseverence, of a man whose life was never a bed of roses, a man who made the best of his troubles. Here we are made to wonder at the man who wrote so prolifically and beautifully, while he endured a marriage at odds with his passion for nature. The story of the adopted son was spell-binding! The pictures, both historic and recent, are spectacular. In fact, this book is a model to any of us seeking to write about a naturalist whose life we so admire! Bravo!