John McPhee

The Pulitzer Prize-winning view of the continent, across the fortieth parallel and down through 4.6 billion years Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross section of North America at about the fortieth parallel and, in the process, come to an understanding not only of the...

John McPhee takes us on a remarkable journey in search of oranges, beginning with the origins of the fruit in Southeast Asia. He unravels the rich history of the trade and cultivation of this botanical marvel, and its role in literature and art. He travels from the great orangeries of Louis XIV to the endless groves of Florida, and introduces...

In this astutely observed travel account, Pulitzer Prize-winner John McPhee plunges into the wild frontiers and frigid climate of Alaska, exploring the varied regions and people of this Northern US state. Travelling by foot and canoe, McPhee moves from urban landscape to the remote Alaskan bush, drawing a rich and comprehensive history of a vast land and its inhabitants. With...

John McPhee’s The Patch is just that: patches of work across a writer’s lifetime that come together to form a quilt of essays, reflections, and reminiscences. Ranging across a variety of genres and styles, subjects and moods, his patches are collected from writings that have not previously appeared in any book. This collection is divided into Part I ‘The Sporting...

Most people think of the American state of New Jersey as a suburban-industrial corridor that sits just west of New York City. But in the centre of the state lies a vast wilderness—larger than most national parks—which has been known since the seventeenth century as the Pine Barrens. In The Pine Barrens, McPhee uses his uncanny skills as a journalist...

In 1969, acclaimed journalist and author John McPhee embarked on an extraordinary journey with his family, relocating from New Jersey to the windswept island of Colonsay, located twenty-five miles off the western coast of Scotland. This tiny island, comprising just seventeen square miles, is the ancestral home of McPhee's forefathers. They rented a crofthouse, and, with his children enrolled at...

The long-awaited guide to writing long-form nonfiction by the legendary author and teacher John McPhee. Draft No. 4 is a master class on the writer's craft. John McPhee shares insights he has gathered over his long career, and has refined while teaching at Princeton University, where he has nurtured some of the most highly regarded writers of our time. He...