Reading the Roots: American Nature Writing Before Walden - Paperbackby Michael P. Branch (Author) Reading the Roots is an unprecedented anthology of outstanding early writings about American nature a rich, influential, yet critically underappreciated body of work. Rather than begin with Henry David Thoreau, who is often identified as the progenitor of American nature writing, editor Michael P. Branch instead surveys the long tradition that prefigures and anticipates Thoreau and his literary descendants. The selections