The Life and Truth of George R. Stewart

Best known for his 1949 post-apocalyptic thriller Earth Abides, George R. Stewart (1895–1980) spent a lifetime wandering the American landscape and writing books about its geography and history. An English professor at the University of California at Berkeley, the exceptional scholar-author penned some of the most remarkable literary works of the 20th century, inventing several types of books along the way—including the road-geography book, micro-history, place-name history, ecological history, and the ecological novel. By weaving human and natural sciences and history into his books Stewart created works with a multi-disciplinary perspective on events and places that influenced numerous other writers, artists, and scientists, including Stephen King, Greg Bear, and Page Stegner. This volume considers George R. Stewart’s rich oeuvre while chronicling a life-long quest to uncover the deepest truths about the man and his work.

Donald M. Scott has taught in high schools, adult schools, and in community college. He has worked as a National Park Ranger-Naturalist in national parks and served as a NASA aerospace educational specialist where he worked with NASA astronauts and scientists to develop and deliver educational programs for students and teachers. He lives in Carson City, Nevada, where he volunteers for the Talking Book Program of the Nevada State Library.

Donald M. Scott

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 246
Bibliographic Info: 40 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6799-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-9053-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments   viii
Preface   1
Prologue: Of Librarians and Libraries   2
I. Wandering Toward Wisdom   5
II. A Gift of Ordeals   67
III. The Man Who Named the Storms   94
IV. Of Freedom and Friendship   124
V. Emeritus   152
VI. Opus Perfeci   184
Epilogue   201
Chief Sources   204
Notes   206
Bibliography   216
Index   227

“Scott’s biography…is a fully formed exploration of a life of writing and travel and field study that spooled from a supremely inquisitive mind and a supportive family…Scott gives us an effective, appropriately documented, and always enthusiastic biography of George R. Stewart…labor of love, long in the emerging”—Association of American Geographers.