Award-Winning Author Dean King Discusses Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship that Saved Yosemite

The dramatic and uplifting story of legendary outdoorsman and conservationist John Muir’s journey to save Yosemite is “a rich, enjoyable excursion into a seminal period in environmental history” (The Wall Street Journal).

In June of 1889 in San Francisco, John Muir—iconic environmentalist, writer, and philosopher—meet   face-to-face for the first time with his longtime editor Robert Underwood Johnson, an elegant and  influential figure at The Century magazine. Before long, the pair, opposites in many ways, decide to venture to Yosemite Valley, the magnificent site where twenty years earlier, Muir experienced a personal and spiritual awakening that would set the course of the rest of his life. 

Upon their arrival the men are confronted with a shocking vision, as predatory mining, tourism, and logging industries have plundered and defaced “the grandest of all the special temples of Nature.” While Muir is devastated, Johnson, an arbiter of the era’s pressing issues in the pages of the nation’s most prestigious magazine, decides that he and Muir must fight back. The pact they form marks a watershed moment, leading to the creation of Yosemite National Park, and launching an environmental battle that captivates the nation and ushers in the beginning of the American environmental movement.

Dean King is an award-winning author of ten nonfiction books, including Skeletons on the Zahara, Unbound, Patrick O’Brian: A Life Revealed, and The Feud. His writing has appeared in Granta, Garden & Gun, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, New York magazine, and The New York Times. He is the chief storyteller in two History Channel documentaries and a producer of its series Hatfields & McCoys: White Lightning. An internationally known speaker, King has appeared on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, ABC’s World News Tonight, PBS’s American Experience, BBC Radio, Arte TV France/Germany, and at TEDx. For more info, visit DeanHKing.com.

John Grady is the author of  Matthew Fontaine Maury: Father of Oceanography. He also has contributed to Sea History, Naval History, the New York Times “Disunion” series, Civil War Monitor, Civil War Navy and Journal of the American Revolution. He continues to write on national security for the Naval Institute’s online news service.  He has tent-camped in Yosemite twice, but never attempted John Muir’s and Dean King’s climbs and treks.

Books will be available for sale. A book-signing will follow the discussion.

Presented in partnership with East City Bookshop