The Man Who Built the Sierra Club

David Brower--mountaineer, ardent conservationist, fierce advocate for wilderness--led a life that mattered then and still does today. Like Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, Brower stood up for the natural world when it had much to lose, and made a difference. Robert Wyss captures the man and that critical moment in this insightful, moving, and consequential book. The Man Who Built the Sierra Club adds an essential work to the canon of American environmental history. -- William Souder, author of On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson Wyss provides a penetrating and readable narrative of the highest profile American environmentalist in the postwar decades and of the many battles he and the Sierra Club fought. He makes clear the multiple layers of Brower's personality: passion, commitment, aggressiveness, and, at times, recklessness. Readers will come away with a clear and compelling portrait of this cutting edge environmental activist. -- Mark Harvey, author of Wilderness Forever: Howard Zahniser and the Path to the Wilderness Act Wyss's assiduous research will lay to rest many lingering misconceptions about a man who exasperated and inspired by turns, and always spoke to our hearts' love for wild Earth. A tremendously worthwhile and interesting chronicle of Brower's evolution into an uncompromising crusader. -- Stephanie Mills, bioregionalist, author of Epicurean Simplicity and In Service of the Wild