Explore the vast range of titles available.

Beginning with his 1934 Field Guide to the Birds, Roger Tory Peterson introduced literally millions of people to the pleasures of observing birds in the wild. His field guide, which has gone through five editions and sold more than four million copies, fostered an appreciation for the natural world that set the stage for the contemporary environmental movement. When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sounded a warning about the threat to birds and their habitats in the 1960s, the Peterson field guides had already prepared the public and the scientific community to heed the warning and fight to save habitat and protect endangered species—a result that Peterson wholeheartedly approved. In this authoritative, highly readable biography of Roger Tory Peterson (1908-1996), Douglas Carlson creates a fascinating portrait of the complex, often conflicted man behind the brand name. He describes how Peterson's obsession with birds began in boyhood and continued throughout a multifaceted career as a painter, writer, educator, environmentalist, and photographer. Carlson traces Peterson's long struggle to become both an accomplished bird artist and a scientific naturalist—competing goals that drove Peterson to work to the point of exhaustion and that also deprived him of many aspects of a normal personal life. Carlson also records Peterson's many lasting achievements, from the phenomenal success of the field guides, to the bird paintings that brought him renown as \"the twentieth century's Audubon,\" to the establishment of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute to carry on his work in conservation and education.

\"Roger Tory Peterson made bird watching the most popular hobby in the United States.\" (NATURE FRIEND) Learn how this bird watcher became a published illustrator. This nature artist is profiled.

Following his death at the age of 87, Roger Tory Peterson \"will be remembered best for his obsessive lifelong effort to put birds, figuratively, within reach of every American. His two main field guides, covering birds in the Eastern and Western halves of the nation, have sold more than 7 million copies since the 1930s.\" (NEWSWEEK) Peterson's contributions to our knowledge of birds are described.

\"Roger Tory Peterson was born 100 years ago, in August 1908. While you might not be familiar with his name, you've certainly heard about his favorite subject--birds!...Roger Tory Peterson became famous for writing and illustrating the first field guide to birds.\" (Highlights for Children) Read about Peterson's study of birds.

\"This August [2008] marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Roger Tory Peterson, a legendary naturalist, artist, educator, photographer and filmmaker.\" (New York State Conservationist) Learn more about Peterson's study of birds and nature.

\"[Conservationist Roger Tory] Peterson's achievement was to teach Americans, who were losing touch with the wild world, to take another look and see it clearly.\" (BOYS' LIFE) Peterson was an ornithologist--a scientist who studies birds--who wrote almost 50 books, including two field guides that sold more than seven million copies. More about Peterson's life and achievements is included.