Bob Marshall in the Adirondacks
Writings of a Pioneering Peak-Bagger,
Pond-Hopper and Wilderness Preservationist
Edited by Phil Brown
$24.95, hardcover, 334 pages
More than 70 photos and maps
Published in 2006
"It's a great thing these days to leave civilizationfor a while and return to nature."
–BOB MARSHALL The High Peaks of the Adirondacks, 1922
The Adirondack Mountain Club's first guidebook
Bob Marshall embodied the spirit of wilderness. He fought for the preservation of millions of acres of American forestland; he explored and wrote about the Alaskan frontier, and he organized the Wilderness Society. His passion for wilderness was nurtured in the Adirondack Mountains, where he spent his boyhood summers. He and his brother, George, and their guide, Herb Clark, were the first to climb all the Adirondack peaks over four thousand feet.
This book gathers nearly forty of Marshall's writings about the Adirondacks. They include numerous accounts of his pioneering hikes in the High Peaks and explorations of the vast wild region south of Cranberry Lake, a charming sketch of Herb Clark, a tribute to the nineteenth-century surveyor Mills Blake, excerpts from an unpublished novel set partly in the Adirondacks, and Marshall's spirited defense of New York state's forever-wild Forest Preserve.
These articles are an important part of Adirondack history. They not only illuminate Marshall's life and thought, but they also reveal his deeply personal connection to the Adirondacks. Readers who know Marshall solely by his national reputation will discover what inspired him to become one of the country's strongest voices for wilderness preservation. Adirondack aficionados will delight in reading about Marshall's experience of places they know and love.
The anthology also contains three articles by George Marshall, including "Adirondacks to Alaska," a heartfelt portrait of his brother, as well as articles by historian Philip G. Terrie, legendary conservationist Paul Schaefer, and Adirondack Explorer Editor Phil Brown. Also included is a humorous ode to Adirondack peak-bagging by Bill McKibben.
It is richly illustrated by more than sixty photographs, many taken by Marshall himself, and a dozen maps.
REVIEWS
"Like Mozart in music and Keats in poetry, Bob Marshall packed an astonishing quantity of experience and accomplishment into a short life and has been elevated to near mythic status by generations of followers."
--NEAL BURDICK, editor of Adirondac , the magazine of the Adirondack Mountain Club.
"Everyone who loves the Adirondacks, and everyone who loves the wilderness, will want to have this book on their shelf. We see the early enthusiasms of the man who preserved tens of millions of American acres, and helped launch a million backpackers. A classic!"
--BILL McKIBBEN, author of The End of Nature and Wandering Home
"Bob Marshall was one of the towering figures of American environmentalism, and this collection of his Adirondack writings is invaluable evidence of the prominent role of the Adirondacks in the story of American wilderness preservation."
--PHILIP TERRIE, professor of American studies at Bowling Green State University and author of Contested Terrain: A New History of Nature and People in the Adirondacks
"Bob and George Marshall spent their Adirondack summers reading books, walking and climbing mountains. They never stopped writing about the Adirondacks they loved. Phil Brown has assembled a delicious anthology of their articles."
--ROGER MARSHALL, son of George Marshall and nephew of Bob Marshall
"This is a spellbinding collection of Bob Marshall's Adirondack writings. I could not put it down. The many illustrations and informative commentaries are an added attraction. This book is on the required reading list for all lovers of the Adirondacks."
--TONY SOLOMON, record-keeper of the Adirondack Forty-Sixers
"Phil Brown has done a great service. All of us interested in the history of Adirondack conservation, and indeed all who care about wilderness preservation in America, will rejoice in reading Bob Marshall's Adirondack writings, many of them having languished in obscurity for years."
--ED KANZE, author of Over the Mountain and Home Again: Journeys of an Adirondack Naturalist
" Bob Marshall in the Adirondacks includes some of the most delightful and insightful writing there is about the Adirondacks. "
--JOHN ROWEN, The Daily Gazette
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Phil Brown is the editor of the Adirondack Explorer, a regional newsmagazine focusing on environmental issues and non-motorized outdoor recreation. He also has written a guidebook to the Adirondacks. When not in the office, he's usually out hiking, slide climbing, paddling or backcountry skiing. Phil has climbed all the forty-six High Peaks except Allen, which he describes as "too far away."
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