On Harper’s Trail
Roland McMillan Harper, Pioneering Botanist of the Southern Coastal Plain

Elizabeth Findley Shores

The first full-length biography of an important and prodigious southern naturalist

Reviews

"The scholarship shown by Shores is quite impressive. She properly places Harper within the history of ecology. Harper was an initiator and a maverick, an innovator and a dinosaur. These aspects of his personality and importance certainly shine through in Shores's biography."
—L. J. Davenport, Professor of Biology, Samford University

"Although often overlooked, Roland Harper was a significant botanist, and this biography brings him the attention he deserves. In this thoroughly researched study, Shores makes an important contribution, illuminating much about botany in the Southeast, ecology, eugenics, and the history of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. This book should appeal to botanists, historians of science, and many general readers."
—Lester D. Stephens, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Georgia


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Description
Roland McMillan Harper (1878–1966) had perhaps "the greatest store of field experience of any living botanist of the Southeast," according to Bassett Maguire, the renowned plant scientist of the New York Botanical Garden. However, Harper's scientific contributions, including his pioneering work on the ecological importance of wetlands and fire, were buried for decades in the enormous collection of photographs and documents he left. In addition, Harper's reputation as a scientist has often been obscured by his reputation as an eccentric. With this book, Elizabeth Findley Shores provides the first full-length biography of the accomplished botanist, documentary photographer, and explorer of the southern coastal plain's wilderness areas.

Incorporating a wealth of detail about Harper's interests, accomplishments, and influences, Shores follows his entire scientific career, which was anchored by a thirty-five-year stint with the Alabama Geological Survey. Shores looks at Harper's collaboration with his brother Francis, as they traced William Bartram's route…


Page count: 296 pp.
20 b&w photos; 1 illus., 1 map
Trim size: 6 x 9

Cloth
List price: $42.95
Your price: 978-0-8203-3100-3
08/25/2008
  

Paper
List price: $24.95
Your price: 978-0-8203-3522-3
04/01/2010

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Elizabeth Findley Shores is a writer and native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She holds degrees in history from Boston University and the University of Arkansas, Little Rock.