Written in the last years of his life, Reflections from the North Country is often considered Sigurd Olson's most intellectually significant work. In an account alive with anecdote and insight, Olson outlines the wilderness philosophy he developed while working as an outspoken advocate for the conservation of America's natural heritage.Based on speeches delivered at town meetings and government hearings, this book joins The Singing Wilderness and Listening Point as the core of Olson's work. Upon its initial publication in 1976, Reflections from the North Country, with Olson's unique combination of lyrical nature writing and activism, became an inspiration to the burgeoning environmental movement, selling over 46,000 copies in hardcover. In this wide-ranging work, Olson evokes the soaring grace of raven, osprey, and eagle, the call of the loon, and the song of the hermit thrush. He challenges the reader to loosen the grasp of technology and the rush of contemporary life and make room for a sense of wonder heightened by being in nature. From evolution to the meaning and power of solitude, Olson meditates on the human condition, offering eloquent testimony to the joys and truths he discovered in his beloved north-country wilderness.

Travel north from the upper Midwest’s metropolises, and before long you’re “Up North”—a region that’s hard to define but unmistakable to any resident or tourist. Crops give way to forests, mines (or their remains) mark the landscape, and lakes multiply, becoming ever clearer until you reach the vastness of the Great Lakes. How to characterize this region, as distinct from the agrarian Midwest, is the question North Country seeks to answer, as a congenial group of scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals explores the distinctive landscape, culture, and history that define the northern margins of the American Midwest. From the glacial past to the present day, these essays range across the histories of the Dakota and Ojibwe people, colonial imperial rivalries and immigration, and conflicts between the economic imperatives of resource extraction and the stewardship of nature. The book also considers literary treatments of the area—and arguably makes its own contributions to that literature, as some of the authors search for the North Country through personal essays, while others highlight individuals who are identified with the area, like Sigurd Olson, John Barlow Martin, and Russell Kirk. From the fur trade to tourism, fisheries to supper clubs, Finnish settlers to Native treaty rights, the nature of the North Country emerges here in all its variety and particularity: as clearly distinct from the greater Midwest as it is part of the American heartland.

Since it’s grand opening in June 2007, the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay has become one of Maine’s most popular attractions and one the most distinguished botanical destinations in the country. “Wow!” is the word most often heard from visitors who explore the exquisite gardens, stunning stonework, exceptional natural landscapes, waterfalls, and sculptures. The goal of the Gardens is to preserve the botanical heritage and natural landscapes of coastal Maine. Comprising nearly 250 acres, with numerous themed gardens—including the Lerner Garden of the Five Senses, The Giles Rhododendron and Perennial Garden, and the Burpee Kitchen Garden—miles of trails, and a rich variety of events year-round, the Gardens has something for everyone. Celebrating the Fifth Anniversary of the Maine Botanical Gardens, and honoring the sixteen years of planning and construction that went into them, this book is an inspiring tribute to thisparadise on the Maine coast. Bursting with vivid color photographs, information about the Gardens, and a pinch of practical advice for gardeners, it makes a wonderful keepsake or a great gift to inspire others to visit the Gardens.

The Adirondacks have been written about since they were first spied by Europeans more than five hundred years ago. Yet for most of the intervening centuries, few of those writers lived in the region of which they wrote--they were not part of the landscape. That has changed in recent years as writers have moved to the Adirondacks and formed a literary community. Perhaps inspired by these writers, longtime residents have discovered that they, too, could be part of such a community. From scratching out a living in the harsh landscape to the wonders of a moonlit cross-country ski, these writers celebrate life in the Adirondacks. In this remarkable collection of essays, the experiences of Adirondack natives are interwoven with the land in a part of America that is both demanding and rewarding.

Up North is a certain way the wind feels on your face and the way an old wool shirt feels on your back. It's the peace that comes over you when you sit down to read one of your old trip journals, or the anticipation that bubbles inside when you start sorting through your tackle box early in the spring. In this unforgettable collection of essays, Sam Cook portrays the enchanting North Country as a state of mind as much as a geographical area. Up North captures the mystic moods, seasonal subtleties, and colorful characters that fill the region from the Minnesota canoe country to the vast expanse of the Northwest Territories. Organized by time of year, Up North describes every season's pleasures--sled dog racing in winter, hooking a northern pike on the first spring fishing trip, building a summer campfire, watching the aurora borealis in fall. Up North is an invitation to explore canoe country through Sam Cook's eyes and your own. "My favorite book for thedreamers or for any outdoor person who enjoys a good story... Sam Cook is a master at weaving a tale."

In the years after the Second World War, a young doctor took up his post in one of the most remote regions of northern Minnesota. His term of service turned into a lifetime of caring for the people who made this isolated and often lonely place their home. The story of this remarkable adventure in frontline medicine forms the heart of this wonderful book. As a storyteller, MacDonald shows us the beauty of this remote region and the charm of those who make their lives there. With respect, affection, and humility, MacDonald relates his experiences with those who placed their well being in his hands. The result is a warm and warm-hearted tale of the life of a north country doctor.

“Listening Point tells of what I have seen and heard on a bare glaciated spit of rock in the Quetico-Superior country. Each time I have gone there I have found something new that has opened up whole realms of thought and interest. From it I have glimpsed the immensity of space and at times the grandeur of creation. “I believe that I have experienced there one of the oldest satisfactions of man; when as he gazed upon the earth and sky, he sensed the first vague glimmerings of meaning in the universe. I know that while we were born with curiosity and wonder, and our early years are full of the adventure they bring, such inherent joys are often lost. I also know that, being deep within us, their latent glow can be fanned to flame again by awareness and an open mind. “Listening Point is dedicated to rekindling that flame by capturing this almost forgotten sense of wonder, and learning from rocks and trees and all the life that surrounds them truths that can encompass all. “I named this place Listening Point because only when one comes to listen, only when one comes sharpens one’s awareness, can one see and hear in the sense in which I use these words. Everyone has a listening point somewhere, some quiet place where he can contemplate the awesome universe. This book is simply the story of what such a place has meant to me. The experiences that have been mine can be known by anyone who will make the effort.” Thus the author of The Singing Wilderness sets the tone of his new book—a book that not only successfully recaptures the to-be-treasured sense of wonder of which he speaks, but also brings to life, in all its essential grandeur, the unparalleled heritage of lakes and rivers and forests we are so fortunate to be able to call our own. Listening Point is a book that will rekindle spirits wearied by the turmoils of twentieth-century living—that will teach us a new way to look at the world around us and to feel the better for it. With 28 magnificent black-and-white drawings by Francis Lee Jacques.

Charles Cook's own recollection of his 13 months trapping, hunting, fishing, and living in the Boundry Waters between Minnesota and Ontario -- first written in the early 1950s but never before published.

To do with the calling of loons, with northern lights, and the great silences of land lying northwest of Lake Superior. It is concerned with the simple joys, the timelessness and perspective found in a way of life which is close to the past. I have heard the singing in many places, but I seem to hear it best in the wilderness lake country of the Quetico-Superior, where travel is still by pack and canoe over the ancient trails of the Indians and voyageurs." Thus the author sets the theme and tone of this enthralling book of discovery about one of the few great primitive areas in our country which have withstood the pressures of civilization. Acute natural perceptivity and a profound knowledge of the relationships to be found in nature combine here in vivid evocations of the sights, the sounds, the vast stillnesses, and the events of the wilderness as the seasons succeed each other. But Mr. Olson is not content merely to "describe; he probes for meanings that will lead the reader to a different and more revealing way of looking at the out-of-doors and to a deeper sense of its eternal values. In each of the thirty-four chapters of The Singing Wilderness he has sought to capture an essential quality of our magnificent lake and forest heritage. He shows us what can be read from the rocks of the great Canadian Shield; he offers a delightful essay on the virtues of pine knots as fuel; he writes of the ways of a canoe, of flashing trout in the pools of the Isabella, of tamarack bogs, caribou moss, the flight of wild geese, timber wolves, and the birds of the ski trails. And much more, with something to satisfy every taste for wilderness experience. Superbly illustrated with 38 black-and-white drawings by Francis Lee Jaques, The Singing Wilderness is a book that no lover of nature will want to be without. To anyone who contemplates a vacation in the lake country of northern Minnesota and adjoining Canada, it is the perfect vade mecum.