Bücher von David Rains Wallace

Described as "a writer in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and other self–educated seers" by the San Francisco Chronicle, David Rains Wallace turns his attention to one of the most distinctive corners of California: the San Francisco Bay Area. Weaving a complex and engaging story of the Bay Area from personal, historical, and environmental threads, Wallace's exploration of the natural world takes readers on a fascinating tour through the region: from Point Reyes National Park, where an abandoned campfire and an invasion of Douglas fir trees combusted into a dangerous wildfire, to Oakland's Lake Merritt, a surprising site amid skyscrapers for some of the best local bird–watching; from the majestic Diablo Range near San Jose, where conservationists fight against land developers to preserve species like mountain lions and golden eagles, to the Golden Gate itself, the iconic bridge that—geologically speaking—leads not to gold but to serpentine. Each essay explores a different place throughout the four corners of the Bay Area, uncovering the flora and fauna that make each so extraordinary.With a naturalist's eye, a penchant for local history, and an obvious passion for the subject, Wallace's new collection is among the first nature writing dedicated entirely to the Bay Area. Informative, engrossing, and exquisitely described, Mountains and Marshes affords unexpected yet familiar views of a beloved region that, even amidst centuries of growth and change, is as dynamic as it is timeless.

When dinosaur fossils were first discovered in the Wild West, they sparked one of the greatest scientific battles in American history. Over the past century it has been known by many names -- the Bone War, the Fossil Feud -- but the tragic story of the competition for fame and natural treasure between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, two leading paleontologists of the Gilded Age, remains prophetic of the conquest of the West as well as a watershed event in science. With a historian's eye and a novelist's skill, David Rains Wallace charts in fascinating detail the unrestrained rivalry between Cope and Marsh and their obsession to become the first to make available to the world the abundant, unknown fossils of the western badlands. This story will surely fascinate anyone who has had to confront the myriad facets of professional jealousy, its sterile brooding, and how it leads to an emotional abyss.