Evening Program: Young John Muir's 1000-Mile Walk to the Gulf 1867-68

AMC's Cabot Auditorium
7:00 PM Doors Open

7:30 PM Program Begins

Biographer Dr. James Hunt will talk about his book Restless Fires - Young John Muir's Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf in 1867-68. Dr. Hunt's book provides a detailed rendering of John Muir's thousand-mile walk to the Gulf based on both manuscript and published accounts. Hunt particularly examines the development of Muir's environmental thought as a young adult as he experienced delight in seeing nature anew after recovering from partial blindness due to a factory accident. Muir witnessed the Civil War's devastating impacts and efforts towards Reconstruction on towns, villages, and people. This is one of the first books on John Muir's thousand-mile walk that places his journey in the context of the Civil War and Reconstruction, to which Muir gave only passing witness.

In Muir's view, nature provides humans a moral touchstone when they recognize their small part in the "divine harmony." Muir wrote that when he simply went out for a walk in nature, he was really "going in." This book explores what Muir meant.