The essays collected here -- the first critical compendium about Burroughs -- show the breadth and depth of his achievement. John Burroughs, the genial and tremendously popular author of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, has gained renewed appreciation at the end of the twentieth century. His quiet approach to nature writing -- a combination of scientific observation and poetic spirit, has informed generations of readers. This book is a testament to the importance of his work in modern literature. In addition to exploring the historical aspects of Burroughs's life and character, these works illuminate his role as a writer and his relationships with such contemporaries as Whitman, Thoreau, Emerson, and Muir.