About the Author

Henry D. Thoreau's Faith in a Seed, was first published in hardcover in 1993 by Island Press under the Shearwater Books imprint, which unifies scientific views of nature with humanistic ones. This important work, the first publication of Thoreau's last manuscript, is now available in paperback. Faith in a Seed contains Thoreau's last important research and writing project, The Dispersion of Seeds, and other unpublished late natural history writings. Edited by Bradley P. Dean, professor of English at East Carolina University and editor of the Thoreau Society Bulletin, these writings demonstrate how a major American author at the height of his career succeeded in making science and literature mutually enriching.

Gary Paul Nabhan is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University. He is the author or coauthor of more than 12 books, 65 technical journal articles, and 200 published magazine articles. Among the honors Nabhan has received are a MacArthur Fellowship, 1990-1995; Pew Scholarship for Conservation and the Environment, 1991; John Burroughs Medal for Nature Writing, 1986; Lannan Literary Award, 1999; Lifetime Achievement Award from Society for Conservation Biology.