Books like Beyond the mountains by Kenneth Rexroth

Bill Bryson humorously chronicles a two–person hike along the Appalachian Trail, mixing lively anecdotes with insightful looks at its history, ecology, and the people who live along the route.

Tennessee Williams’ landmark 1951 play, 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' follows the fragile Blanche DuBois as she confronts the brutal realities of her life with Stanley Kowalski, the forceful newcomer.

Explore the life and work of environmentalist and writer Edward Abbey, who spent the 1950s as a park ranger in the American Southwest.

John Muir’s first summer in the Sierra Nevada is presented as a biographical and natural‑history account, enriched by photographs from Herbert W. Gleason and drawings by Muir himself.

In the second book of Sylvia Engdahl’s Children of the Star trilogy, Noren’s quest to democratize technology in the City confronts the limits of prophecy and the enduring power of the Scholars.

Robert Macfarlane examines why humans are drawn to mountaineering, blending personal climbs with cultural history and psychological analysis of our fascination with peaks.

Famed naturalist John Muir (1838-1914) came to Wisconsin as a boy and studied at the University of Wisconsin. He first came to California in 1868 and devoted six years to the study of the Yosemite Valley. After work in Nevada, Utah, and Colorado, he returned to California in 1880 and made the state his home. One of the heroes of America's conservation movement, Muir deserves much of the credit for making the Yosemite Valley a protected national park and for alerting Americans to the need to protect this and other natural wonders. The mountains of California (1894) is his book length tribute to the beauties of the Sierras. He recounts not only his own journeys by foot through the mountains, glaciers, forests, and valleys, but also the geological and natural history of the region, ranging from the history of glaciers, the patterns of tree growth, and the daily life of animals and insects. While Yosemite naturally receives great attention, Muir also expounds on less well known beauty spots.