This collection of essays celebrates those park lands of the American West that John Muir knew and loved. Muir captures the vital essence of Yosemite, Yellowstone, Sequoia, and other areas, detailing their natural attractions -- the breathtaking forests, lush alpine meadows, massive granite domes, towering sequoias, bursting geysers, thundering waterfalls, and crystalline glacial lakes.

Our National Parks is also a brilliant defense of American forests and a sharp critique of the corrupt forestry practices of Muir's time. His spirited writing clarified the debate on the preservation of wilderness and helped bring the national park service into existence. Essential reading for anyone who wants to protect America's wild lands, Our national Parks is Muir at his rhapsodic and polemical best.