Writings About Olson

A Wilderness Within: The Life of Sigurd F. Olson (University Of Minnesota Press, 1997), winner of the 1998 Small Press Book Award for best biography, was written by David Backes, the creator of this web site and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Praise for A Wilderness Within:

"David Backes's skillful biography, 'A Wilderness Within,' explores in depth both the public activities of Olson's productive career and the torments that dogged him throughout his life....Thanks to years of careful research by Backes (the author of 'Canoe Country' and 'The Wilderness Companion'), we have a colorful portrayal of Sigurd F. Olson, backcountry woodsman and guide, wilderness advocate, negotiator, administrator, teacher, author and environmental icon." The New York Times Book Review

"A highly readable portrait of a much-loved writer and a beautifully articulated history of the conservation movement in the United States through the middle decades of this century." Audubon

"This smoothly written, congenial biography will engage readers through its compelling parallel narrative of a man's unfolding commitment to his own enlightenment and to the public good." Publisher's Weekly

"The abundance of anecdotes and quotes gleaned from Olson's letters and journals, as well as family interviews, make this a fascinating and highly readable book." Library Journal

"A captivating biography....Backes is an ideal choice as a biographer." St. Paul Pioneer Press

"David Backes has written a compelling, brilliant analysis of conservationist Sigurd Olson." The Minneapolis Star-Tribune

The Meaning of Wilderness: Essential Articles and Speeches, published in 2001 by the University of Minnesota Press, shows the development of Olson's wilderness philosophy over time, as shown in the eighteen selected articles and speeches, and as explained in my introduction to the book and commentary at the start of each chapter.

You'll also find some discussion of Olson in my book Canoe Country: An Embattled Wilderness (Minocqua, Wis.: NorthWord Press, 1991), but nothing significant that isn't also covered in the biography. Canoe Country is primarily a cultural/environmental history of the the Quetico-Superior wilderness of Ontario and northeastern Minnesota. On this web site you'll also find the text of my April 1995 Forest & Conservation History article, The Land Beyond the Rim: Sigurd Olson's Wilderness Theology. My master's thesis, "The Air Ban War: Sigurd F. Olson and the Fight to Ban Airplanes from the Roadless Areas of Minnesota's Superior National Forest" (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1983) contains details about this late-1940s conservation battle that didn't make it into the biography. (The reverse is also true.)

Other Works:

Short, Brant. Giving Voice to the Wild: The Rhetorical Legacy of Sigurd Olson and The Singing Wilderness . Speaker and Gavel, 2007. The entire issue is on one long web page, and this is the last article, so an easy way to find it is either to use the search command, or scroll quickly to the very end and then scroll back up a bit to the start of the article.

Vickery, Jim dale. Wilderness Visionaries. Merrillville, Ind.: ICS Books, Inc., 1986.

This book contains a chapter-length profile of Olson, as well as chapters devoted to Bob Marshall, John Muir, Calvin Rutstrum, Robert Service, and Henry David Thoreau. NorthWord Press, Inc., of Minocqua, Wis., has published a newer version with additional chapters on Aldo Leopold and Olaus Murie.

A few feature articles about and interviews with Sigurd were published in magazines and newspapers during his lifetime. See especially:

Graham, Frank Jr. "Leave It to the Bourgeois: Sigurd Olson and His Wilderness Quest." Audubon, November 1980.

Huyck, Dorothy Boyle. "Sig Olson: Wilderness Philosopher." American Forests, May 1965.

Vickery, Jim dale. "A Bluejay Calling: A Conversation with Sigurd F. Olson." Canoe, February 1980.

In addition, Naturalist (the journal of the Natural History Society of Minnesota) devoted its autumn 1981 issue to Olson, and the Minnesota Historical Society (located in St. Paul) owns a four-hour oral history interview of Olson, recorded in 1976. A 46-page transcript of the interview also is available at the society.