Wallace Stegner and the American West [Paperback]

Renowned environmental historian Philip L. Fradkin reveals the Wallace Stegner behind the literary legacya generous teacher, conservationist, and man whose early landscapes shaped his life and character. Fradkin chronicles Stegner's formative years, from the raw, desolate plains of Saskatchewan and the canyonlands of Utah to California's Silicon Valley. A lifelong teacher and environmentalist, Stegner inspired countless writers and defended the wilderness against human desecration. In this biography of man, place, and century, Fradkin traces Stegner's life across its many landscapes, and shows us how this child of the fading frontier became the voice, protector, and enduring icon of the West.

Philip L. Fradkinis the author of eleven highly praised books, includingA River No MoreandThe Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906.He was the first western editor ofAudubon Magazineand shared a Pulitzer Prize as a journalist for theLos Angeles Times.

Respectful of his subject but never worshipful, Fradkin has given us our first full critical portrait of the man and his protean career..Hampton Sides, author ofBlood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West

This is a splendid scholarly study of Americas most important twentieth-century interpreter of the West.

Illuminating. . . . Goes beyond Stegners iconic status to give us. . . the influential teacher and visionary conservationist.

Fradkin is the perfect fit to study Stegners career in the West. . . . This is a fine [assessment].