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Encounters With An Archdruid Summary

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Taylor Cox AP Environmental Science 2 April 2017 Encounters with an Archdruid details the adventures of environmentalist David Brower, as a compoundment of“narratives...of journeys made in three wildernesses – on a coastal island, in a Western mountain range, and on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.” (McPhee, 2). Journalist John McPhee wrote the book after researching Brower’s tales of struggle against miners, developers, and even the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Encounters with an Archdruid is broken into three sections, one for each of Bower’s adventures. The first explains Brower's interaction with Charles Park, a mineral engineer inent locating and utilizing mineral reserves in Glacier Peak Wilderness. Charles Park is depicted in the book as calculating and realistic-minded, unwilling to give up his immediate economic gain in order to leave the the environment intact for future generations. This …show more content…

Fraser's believes that all environmentalists are modern druids who "worship trees and sacrifice human beings to those trees" (McPhee 32), which inspired the the title of the book, Encounters with an Archdruid. Brower traveled to Georgia intent on halting Fraser's plan to develop Cumberland Island, and thus the real estate developer is also depicted as calculating like Park. Fraser possesses a vision of development that means land is regulated and controlled by corporations, not free for the public to use: which starkly contrasts Brower’s personal views. McPhee emphasizes the fact that Fraser still considers himself a true conservationist, despite his development plans. But Brower continued to fight Fraser, and eventually forced Fraser to sell the land he had purchased on Cumberland Island to the National Park Foundation, after receiving an impressive amount of support for his conservationist efforts from the

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