Testimonials for This Grand and Magnificent Place
“There are few American wild landscapes with as long and intense a human association as the White Mountains. Christopher Johnson tells the story in fascinating detail. Along the way we gain an understanding of the growth of wilderness appreciation in American intellectual history.”
—Roderick Frazier Nash, Professor Emeritus of History and Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Wilderness and the American Mind
Books
Forests For The People
Order from Island Press
Order from Amazon
This Grand &
Magnificent Place
Writings
I started writing when I was an English teacher in the Chicago area, way back in the Seventies. I got started writing when I would make assignments to the kids, and then I’d end up writing along with them. I started out writing about schools and education, but then I started writing more about the outdoors, and that’s where I’ve veered ever since.
Books
In 2006, the University Press of New England, in Lebanon, New Hampshire published my first book, This Grand and Magnificent Place: The Wilderness Heritage of the White Mountains. It’s a blend of history, literature, art, and conservation about these fabulous mountains. You can order it at the following places:
Articles & Essays
Here’s a list of some of the articles and essays that I’ve published over the years. There are even some links, like to Appalachia, a journal published quarterly by the Appalachian Mountain Club in Boston.
"November Forest Walk." Naturewriting.com. Posted June 25, 2015.
"Cleaning Up the South Branch of the Chicago River." Chicago Life, Summer 2015.
"Franconia Notch: Closing the Circle." Naturewriting.com. Posted June 25, 2015.
"Chicago's Mass Transit Crisis." Chicago Life, Spring 2015.
"The Greening of Chicagoland's Job Picture." Chicago Life, February 2015.
"Waste Not Want Not in Chicago." Chicago Life, November 2014.
"On Shaky Ground: Longwall Coal Mining Is Sinking Farmland in Illinois." Earth Island Journal, September 24, 2014.
"Lake Michigan: Crown Jewel at Risk." Chicago Life, Fall 2014.
"Southeast Chicago's Battle Against Petcoke." Earth Island Journal. July 3, 2014.
"Mountaintop Removal and How It Affects Chicago." Chicago Life, Summer 2014.
"Climbing into Flow." Appalachia, Summer/Fall 2014.
“Fracking Comes to the Prairie State.” Chicago Life, Spring 2014. Download Fracking Comes to the Prairie State (PDF, 2.35MB)
“Frankenstein Cliff and the Black Dog.” Appalachia, Summer/Fall 2013.
“Badlands Restoration.” Palo Alto Review, Summer 2012.
“Menominee Forest Keepers” (with Barbara Johnson). American Forests, Spring 2012.
“The Slide Show That Saved the Whites” (with David Govatski). Appalachia, Winter/Spring 2011.
“Mountaineering Pioneers of the Berkshires.” Appalachia, Winter/Spring 2010.
“A Sanctuary.” Snow Egret, Spring 2009.
“Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.” Chicago Wilderness, Summer 2008.
“Benton MacKaye and the Tattered Ten.” Appalachia, Winter/Spring 2008.
“The Animate World of the Abenaki” (with Barbara Johnson). Appalachia, Winter/Spring 2007.
“Restoring the Prairie: The Tallgrass Waves Once More in the Midwest.” E: The Environmental Magazine, July/August 2007.
“Restoring Nature: Cycles of Rebirth.” Snowy Egret, Spring 2006.
“Ancient Places, Ancient Cultures.” The Daily Herald, August 29, 2004.
“Hiking Back in Time: The Mountain Stronghold of Cochise” (with Barbara Johnson). Appalachia, Summer/Fall 2004.
“The Law That Saved the Appalachians.” Appalachia, Summer 2003.
“The Picturesque, the Sublime, and the Magnificent: A Legacy of White Mountain Art.” Appalachia, June 2002.
“Agiochook: The Sacred Landscape.” Appalachia, December 2001.
“Voices of Transformation: Listening to the Lowell Experience.” Cimarron Review, Winter/Spring 1999.
“A Young Poet.” Arizona English Bulletin, Winter 1997.
“Planning Thematic Literature Units.” Minnesota English Journal, Fall 1995.
“Self-Esteem: From the Inside Out.” Momentum, February/March 1993.
“Nature and the Environment in the English Classroom.” Minnesota English Journal, Winter/Spring 1992.
“Teaching the Green: Nature Writing in the Literature Curriculum.” California English, November/December 1991.
“To the Woods.” Momentum, September 1991.
“Kids Can Break Through Writer’s Block!” Gifted Children Monthly, October 1988.
“Seen but Not Heard: The Dilemma of the Shy Child.” Momentum, November 1987.
“School Phobia.” Seattle’s Child, November 1986.
“Waking Up the Right Brain.” Media & Methods, January/February 1986.
“Writing as Creative Problem Solving.” NJEA Review, October 1985.
“Children Who Learn Not to Learn.” NEA Today, April 1983.
“Problem-Solving: Your Key to Creative Thinking.” Media & Methods, March 1983.
“Nuclear Disarmament.” Today’s Education, 1982-1983 annual.
“Our Investment in Public Education.” Today’s Education, February/March 1982.
“Overplacement: Rushing Children into Failure” (with Barbara Johnson). USA Today, March 1982.
“The Standardized Childhood.” Today’s Education, November/December 1981.
“Changing Careers: Using the Skills You Have.” Learning, April/May 1981.
“From Freaks to Rah-Rahs: Subcultures in the High School.” Today’s Education, April/May 1981.
“Smart Kids Have Problems, Too.” Today’s Education, February/March 1981.
“Four Myths About EEO—And What Trainers Can Do About Them” (with Martin Delaney). Training,
April 1980.
“School and Work: Do They Ever Mix?” Today’s Education, February/March 1980.
“Power and Responsibility.” La Confluencia, October 1978.
“Secondary Schools and Student Responsibility.” Phi Delta Kappan, January 1978.
“The Intruders.” Wisconsin Review, June 1977.
“Vocational Education Without Higher Costs?” Momentum, May 1977.
“Balancing Form and Content.” Illinois English Bulletin, Winter 1977.
“A Boy Called Frog.” Today’s Education, November/December 1976.