Contact: Mountain Climbing And Environmental Thinking

by Jeffrey Mccarthy (Editor)

Overview

Contact collects new and classic first-person climbing stories from North America’s best-known climbers and writers. Mountain climbers are important but overlooked commentators on the environment, and this collection of alpine adventures demonstrates the relationship between climbers and nature both for a popular audience and for academics working in the field of environmental literature. Contributors include Gary Snyder, John Daniel, Chris McNamara, and Greg Child.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874174595
Publisher:	University of Nevada Press
Publication date:	06/01/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Jeffrey Mathes McCarthy is chair of environmental studies and associate professor of English at Westminster College. He has climbed mountains in Asia, Africa, and Europe, and his work has been published in academic journals and climbing magazines.

Table of Contents

1: conquest

reverend george kinney | The Capture of Mount Robson
steve house | The Mind of the Observer
arlene blum | The Serac
jonathan waterman | Denali
chris mcnamara | El Cap Girdle Traverse
peter metcalf | Running on Empty
karen mcneil | Six Pounds of Lard
barry blanchard | A Day Alone

2: caretaking

mark jenkins | In Denial
conrad kain | The First Ascent of Mount Robson
gary snyder | Prose Poems
doug robinson | The Whole Natural Art of Protection
john daniel | Climbing Into a Life
cameron m. burns | Into Africa
mike libecki | Solo in Queen Maud Land

3: connection

henry david thoreau | Ktaadn
yvon chouinard | The Muir Wall
lynn hill | Freeing the Nose
barry blanchard | The Sorcerer
john muir | A Near View of the High Sierra
steph davis | House of Wind,
terry gifford | America in Spain
david stevenson | Untethered in Yosemite

Editorial Reviews

“What McCarthy does here is not only bring together great stories; he contextualizes them in such a way as to create a paradigm for examining the impact humans have in even the most remote corners of the globe.”―Mikel Vause, author of Peering Over the Edge: The Philosophy of Mountaineering. 

“This book carves a unique spot in literature by asking eco-critical scholars to give mountaineering literature/culture more attention, as it has always and continues to play an integral part in the formation of human relations with the natural environment. It is a timely and valuable contribution to scholars in environmental studies and mountaineering literature. Moreover, it is an important book for armchair climbers and climbers themselves.”―Peter L. Bayers, author of Imperial Ascent: Mountaineering, Masculinity, and Empire. 

“Contact is a timely book because it gives us the opportunity to examine the reason we climb and a chance to see our connection to the environment. In addition to an intellectual appraisal of climbing, these are fine tales of risk and adventure.”―Conrad Anker, climber.

From the Publisher