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San Antonio Book Festival - Dean King
Jessica King
Book Festival Author

Dean King

Dean King is an award-winning author of 10 nonfiction books. His writing has appeared in Granta, Garden & Gun, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Travel & Leisure, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. He is the chief storyteller in two History Channel documentaries and is a producer of its nonfiction series Hatfields & McCoys: White Lightning. A world traveler and an internationally known speaker, King has also appeared on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation, ABC World News Tonight, PBS American Experience, BBC Radio, and TEDx. He is a partner of Gum Street Productions, which is currently developing a feature documentary for Netflix. His latest book, Guardians of the Valley, explores the life of legendary environmentalist John Muir and the eventual creation of Yosemite National Park.

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Book by Dean King

  • Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship that Saved Yosemite by Dean King

    Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship that Saved Yosemite

    The dramatic and uplifting story of legendary outdoorsman and conservationist John Muir’s journey to become the man who saved Yosemite—from the author of the bestselling book, "Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival."

    In June of 1889 in San Francisco, John Muir—iconic environmentalist, writer, and philosopher—meets face-to-face for the first time with his longtime editor at The Century magazine, Robert Underwood Johnson. The pair venture to Yosemite Valley, the magnificent site where twenty years earlier, Muir experienced a personal and spiritual awakening that would set the course of the rest of his life.

    Upon their arrival the men are confronted with a shocking vision, as predatory mining, tourism, and logging industries have plundered and defaced “the grandest of all the special temples of Nature.” While Muir is consumed by grief, Johnson, a champion of society’s most pressing debates via the pages of the nation’s most prestigious magazine, decides that he and Muir must fight back. The pact they form marks a watershed moment, leading to the creation of Yosemite National Park, and launching an environmental battle that captivates the nation and ushers in the beginning of the American environmental movement.

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