Abstract
In this study I will examine Olson‘s first and most notable work, The Singing Wilderness, published in 1956. This book became a standard work of the period, it established Olson as a national leader among American conservationists, and most significantly, it served as a rhetorical blueprint for others who were greatly inspired by Olson‘s personal quest to understand the natural world on its own terms. In this essay, I will describe Olson‘s status among scholars and provide a biographical overview of significant events in his life. Next I will analyze The Singing Wilderness as a rhetorical text which established Olson‘s reputations among American conservationists. Finally I will discuss Olson‘s contributions to the emerging environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s. I believe that Sigurd Olson is a major prophet of the environmentalist crusade and that The Singing Wilderness must be remembered by scholars who seek a complete rhetorical history of the American environmental movement.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Short, Brant
(2007)
"Giving Voice to the Wild: The Rhetorical Legacy of Sigurd Olson and The Singing Wilderness,"
Speaker & Gavel: Vol. 44:
Iss.
1, Article 5.
Available at:
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/speaker-gavel/vol44/iss1/5