Harold Weston’s captivating account of his intimate relationship with the wilderness, Freedom in the Wilds combines an informal history of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve with his own experiences there as a painter and woodsman. He incorporates stories gathered over many years from the region’s guides and lumbermen and the wealthy visionaries seeking to preserve the wilderness. First published in 1971, Freedom in the Wilds became a classic among Adirondack literature for its thoughtful exploration of wilderness and creativity. In this third edition, Rebecca Foster updates the original by bringing to the foreground Weston’s compelling personal story. She also adds a rich trove of Weston’s letters and journal entries, along with new illustrations, explanatory notes, and a new introduction that will give Weston’s story greater resonance with contemporary readers. Rebecca Foster’s new edition of Harold Weston’s great autobiographical meditation on nature and art is much more than a new edition. It’s the book Weston himself might have written, if he’d had time and the advantage of looking back on his life from the mountaintop. It’s a unique addition to the literature of twentieth century art. With these new materials, Foster has brought to Weston’s book a context artistic, philosophical, and biographical that places it among the classics of American writing about the relationship between art, nature, and the deeply examined life. ― Russell Banks, author of Cloudsplitter Weston was a latter-day John Wesley Powell, the one-armed explorer of the Green and Colorado Rivers. Lamed in one leg by polio, Weston had such a Romantic fascination with the wild and difficult, and [with] such energy, that he somehow propelled himself up and down the Adirondack peaks winter and summer during a long life. Weston’s well known autobiographical history of the region has now been expertly revised and includes not only color plates but also a trove of letters and diaries that are as vivid as his paintings and even more revealing of his inner life. ― John Walsh, Director Emeritus, J. Paul Getty Museum An informal history of the rugged Adirondack wilderness together with Weston’s own adventures there as an artist. Harold Weston (1894-1972) spent his childhood summers in the remote Adirondack High Peaks in upstate New York and built a studio-home there in 1920. His deep love and knowledge of the area came from painting its ancient, rugged mountains for most of his adult life. Breaking from solitude periodically, he was an ardent humanitarian devoted to relief work during both World Wars and to the fight for artists’ rights during the Cold War. Freedom in the Wilds , which was first published shortly before his death, is a tribute to the influence the Adirond acks had on his rich legacy of art and activism. Rebecca Foster is president of the Society for the Preservation of American Modernists and Harold Weston’s granddaughter and biographer. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Used Book in Good Condition