Green Laurels: The Lives and Achievements of the Great Naturalists

by Donald Culross Peattie

Overview

In Green Laurels, Donald Culross Peattie combines his extensive knowledge of history's foremost naturalists with his personal observations about the subject to form what the New York Herald Tribune calls "a delightful book...one would not wish to miss on any account." This piece is accurate and precise but according to Nation, "there is not a line which is not dramatically vivid and entertaining." Peattie’s enthusiasm and enlightened curiosity make Green Laurels appealing to readers of all backgrounds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595341648
Publisher:	Trinity University Press
Publication date:	10/10/2013
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	394
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Donald Culross Peattie (1898–1964) was one of the most influential American nature writers of the 20th century. Peattie was born in Chicago and grew up in Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, which sparked his interest in the immense wonders of nature. He studied at the Universityof Chicago and Harvard University. After working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he decided to pursue a career as a writer. In 1925 he became a nature columnist for the Washington Star Newspaper and subsequently went on to pen more than twenty fiction and nonfiction books in the next five decades. Widely acclaimed and popular in his age, his legacy has been attributed as inspiring a modern age of nature writing.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Chapter I Schoolmen and Herbalists 3

Chapter II The Lens Turned on Life 32

Chapter III Science at Court - Buffon and Réaumur 56

Chapter IV The Green World Opens 78

Chapter V The Life Work of Linnaeus 100

Chapter VI Glories and Follies of the Linnaean Age 121

Chapter VII A Chevalier in Science: Lamarck 142

Chapter VIII Anatomist Against Dreamer: Cuvier and Lamarck 164

Chapter IX Wilderness Plantsmen: Bartram and Michaux 186

Chapter X Wilderness Birdsmen: Wilson and Audubon 216

Chaffer XI Frontier Utopians: Say, Rafinesque, and Others 244

Chapter XII Rose Spectacles: Goethe and the Romanticists 269

Chapter XIII Ultimate Isles: Darwin and Wallace 281

Chapter XIV Darwinism and the Man Behind It 304

Chapter XV Fabre and the Epic Commonplace 326

Sources and Reference Material 351

Index 361