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    Under the Stars: How America Fell in Love with Camping
    Under the Stars: How America Fell in Love with Camping
    Under the Stars: How America Fell in Love with Camping
    Audiobook14 hours

    Under the Stars: How America Fell in Love with Camping

    Written by Dan White

    Narrated by Eric Michael Summerer

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From the High Sierra to the Adirondacks and the Everglades, Dan White travels the nation to experience firsthand-and sometimes face first-how the American wilderness transformed from the devil's playground into a source of adventure, relaxation, and renewal.

    Whether he's camping nude in cougar country, being attacked by wildlife while "glamping," or crashing a girls-only adventure for urban teens, White seeks to animate the evolution of outdoor recreation. In the process, he demonstrates how the likes of Emerson, Thoreau, Roosevelt, and Muir-along with visionaries such as Adirondack Murray, Horace Kephart, and Juliette Gordon Low-helped blaze a trail from Transcendentalism to Leave No Trace.

    Wide-ranging in research, enthusiasm, and geography, Under the Stars reveals a vast population of nature seekers, a country still in love with its wild places.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 15, 2016
    ISBN9781515975748
    Under the Stars: How America Fell in Love with Camping

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    Reviews for Under the Stars

    4/5

    34 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Brilliant! Well researched and presented in an entertaining manner. Mr. White makes a compelling argument of the value of enjoying the outdoors without picking sides in an often contentious struggle between camping purists, Walmart parking lot RV enthusiasts, and the Boy Scouts.

      Makes we want to head to the backyard, pitch a tent, and watch the stars.
    • 3/5
      nonfiction. Presents a history of influential people who have defined our camping experiences as we know them (an early chapter is devoted to Thoreau, but the author acknowledges that you need to be young and impressionable in order to submit to his writing). For someone who has done quite a bit of camping, and for someone that worries a lot about lots of things, the author sure does make a lot of really dumb mistakes--but I guess we all have our camping styles.
    • 4/5
      I was super excited to win Under the Stars for an early review because I have always liked camping, but have not been able to go camping in several years. It took me some time to work through initially, not because I was savoring it, but because he spent the first two thirds of the book on the history of camping prior to the 1900s. There were definitely interesting bits to the very early history of camping, however I felt like a lot of time was spent covering the personalities and character of the individuals who started recreational camping down its path. Perhaps this was necessary to fully understand why they camped. The last third of the book, filled with tales of White's own camping experiences was a much faster read for me. Those chapters took me back to my childhood and the days of camping with my parents. I am glad that I stuck with the book and finished it, as I truly enjoyed the second half of it. As others have mentioned, there is a lot of psychoanalysis on the part of the author, and an agenda with environmentalism.
    • 4/5
      A look at the surprisingly complicated history of recreational camping in the United States.Before learning about this book I had never really given this idea of camping much thought, it was just a thing that everyone I knew did to one degree or another, at least a few times. I had no idea how much work it took to make recreational camping a reality. Learning about the development of the gear that campers used, about what it took to develop the very idea of camping was actually rather eye opening as well as the realization of how much the development of the camping culture has impacted so many areas in our country that you wouldn’t think had anything to do with camping initially. Reading this book was an interesting experience. On one hand, the chapters dealing with the history of recreational camping and the interesting and often eccentric characters that led to it's creation and popularity are very well researched and very well written. I learned a lot from reading this book, even about people and topics I thought I already knew. And then there are the chapters where the author recounts his own experiences with camping and the many...interesting choices he makes along the way. I have to applaud the author's willingness to share his experiences and the thinking behind his actions, both positive and negative and his love of camping, even the not so fun parts, comes through strongly.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. My family have always been campers. My grandparents have always been campers. I look at family slide shows and pictures that show us fishing, boating and camping all over the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and Canada. We have tents, we have campers, we have trailers. We have slept under stars and in the back of station wagons while bears ransacked the ice chest.I have camped and backpacked at a number of places all over the world but nothing has been as fun to me, as the National Parks right here in the United States. Part of it comes through familial appreciation: my grandfather was one of the men who joined the Civilian Conservation Corps who went through the states building campgrounds and grooming natural areas to help promote the love of camping. I have a million camping stories and those who camp know what I mean. I have sat on a mountain overlooking a lake in the sun. I have hiked through canopies of rain forest on the Hoh River. My grandma and I experimented with boiling and eating an edible moss called “Old Man's Beard.” Suffice to say, it tasted like old man's beard. I believe I may have been tricked!This book is marvelous. Not only does it delve into the history of camping, but throughout the book there are portraits of individuals who were great outdoorsman themselves; whose names are still evocative of nature in America – Ansel Adams, John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt and Thoreau just to name a few. Transposed between the histories are Dan White's camping experiences and experiments. Some of them are hilarious! Some of them are an attempt to recreate those romantic adventures of the past. Some of them are designed to introduce the wonderful world of camping to his daughter.The places he focused on were somewhat limited. Don't look for a comprehensive travel guide here of all the places to camp. He also works from the mind set of a particular type of camper: he buys high end equipment and some of his adventures are what I would classify as yuppie and hipster camping. There is nothing wrong with that but for those who believe in “their” style of what camping is, do not despair. All of his high end equipment and training does not save him from those nuances and surprises that only nature can provide. Look no further than his trial experience with “all natural” camping!!This is a great book for summer. Take it with you, pitch your tent, read by day and share the stories around the fire with a good old fashioned s'more by night.
    • 5/5
      "Under the Stars" is wonderfully written; Dan White seamlessly mixes history with his personal experiences and amusing anecdotes, making every chapter extremely entertaining. White chronologically follows the history of American camping, allowing the reader to also understand how trends continued & changed with the times. I especially appreciated the looks into the developments of the Boy Scouts & Girl Scouts (which are a huge part of America's view of camping culture) as well as the appearance of RVs & motorhomes in the mid-20th century. White's authority on each piece of history is linked to his retelling of personal experiences obtained while attempting - to the best of his abilities - to recreate those historical camping adventures, including naked survivalist camping, Leave-No-Trace, and auto camping. My only desire for this book is to have some kind of visual timeline that would allow the reader to see how each major historical camping figure intertwines, as far as it concerns dates, locations & influence on one another.
    • 4/5
      Wow, that was a really good read. Enjoyable, well written, mildly funny. In Under the Stars, Dan White explores the history and current ideology and demographics of camping. How did camping start? What were its influences? Why do middle-class white people love pretending to be low-tech wilderness adventurers? This book will answer all these questions and more! In all seriousness, White's focus on the historical figures who influenced the development of what we know as camping today is interesting and well-researched. His own experiences and conclusions from trying out different types of camping, while already being a seasoned/experienced backpacker and recreational camper, give a more recent feel to the history and allow the reader to more deeply immerse themselves in the unfolding story. The glimpses of the past include such characters as Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and a slew of lesser known figures who have changed American culture with their outdoor experiences. As for White himself, he describes experiences with nude camping and wasps, Leave No Trace camping and human feces, camping with city-dwelling teenage girls, antifreeze-guzzling marmots, glamping, etc. Under the Stars is only fifteen chapters but it's a hefty book nonetheless. I personally feel the chapters flow so well that the occasional longer chapter is hardly even noticed. Part memoir-part history lesson, this book is a treat, even if you're not much of a camper yourself. Maybe it'll be the push you need to take a tent out for a night and see some stars.
    • 4/5
      This is a well-written, funny, and interesting history of camping in America. White ranges from Thoreau to Teddy Roosevelt, nude camping to "glamping." Good mix of history with personal anecdotes. I learned quite a bit - particularly enjoyed the chapters about scouting, women campers, and RVs - and also simply enjoyed the read. I did find one or two of the early chapters a bit choppy, but was glad I kept reading. While the book is coherent as a whole, each chapter focuses on a different aspect of camping. White's depiction of camping in the Everglades with a group of inner-city teenaged girls was lovely. Would definitely recommend.
    • 5/5
      "I took in a combination of sights, smells, and sensations that whirled together until I couldn't separate them anymore. I call it camping synesthesia."I am an avid outdoors person and absolutely love to camp, and the sentence above describes exactly how I feel when I'm outside under the stars. To me, a good tent, a sleeping bag and a campfire is definitely enough for a great time outdoors, but he goes way beyond that scenario in this book, trying out every form of camping -- from glamping to camping absolutely buck naked. Ouch. His love of the outdoors comes shining through, and I especially loved the history found here. Definitely a book worth reading, and I am so happy to have been given the chance to read it. I laughed through quite a bit of Mr. White's book which I most definitely recommend. It is a hoot -- sometimes snarkily irreverent (which to me is just great), but all times very informative. And who would have thought a history of camping could be so much fun??Loved it!
    • 5/5
      Under the Stars: How America Fell in Love with Camping by Dan White is an absolutely wonderful history of camping in the United States. Each chapter is concentrated upon a historical figure and the places they most are known for camping. White oftentimes then tries to re-create their experiences. My description sounds boring, but trust me, this book is anything but boring. White's writing is incredible. He makes you feel like you are there with him or the historical figure he is writing about. This is a wonderful book which I recommend to all American's (or other interested folk) that love the outdoors.After reading about some of White's less than optimal camping trips, I vow to never go camping with him. However, I really, really hope that Meena has all of her wishes granted, and that she never quits loving nature and the wilderness. (You'll have to read the book to understand that last sentiment.)I'm really not sure why the publisher sent me this book to review, as I did not request it on LibraryThing, but I am so happy they did. I will, of course, pass this along and talk it up to all of my outdoor-loving friends.
    • 4/5
      This is a fun book for past and present lovers of camping and hiking. Written in the style of Bill Bryson, the author intertwines biographical sketches, personal adventures, history and trivia as he explores America's changing relationship with the outdoors. The influence of famous Americans like Henry Thoreau, Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir are examined as well as the legacy of lesser known campers like William Murray and Horace Kephart. There's an interesting history of both Boy and Girl Scouts, as well as entertaining chapters on the evolution of camping gear, camping food, and the influence of the automobile. Although I thought some sections were a bit too long, this book is well organized, well written and enjoyable.
    • 5/5
      I've camped off and on for years, and I never thought about the history of what I do until this book came along. I found White's book to be informative, very interesting, and often quite humorous. I even snickered out loud a few times. I appreciate that he went out to try what he wrote about, from luxury camping to solo camping in the nude. (I don't want to try that one!) I enjoyed reading about parts of the country I've not visited and knew little about, like the Adirondacks and parts of the West. I learned some things about Thoreau that, despite being an English major, I didn't know, plus interesting facts about the founders of both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, not to mention a president or two. It would seem that the history of camping in the US often reflects the history of the country itself. I definitely recommend this fun, eclectic, informative read.
    • 3/5
      I have taken a quick review, not read of this book and in good conscience can't remember selecting this book from the giveaway. It seems to be a well written and irreverent account of outdoor activities mainly American Camping. I will probably give the text a more indepth read at a later time, but, on the whole I have a limited interest in camping. Therefore, at this time I can't give an honest and trustworthy review of this book. I will rate it a 3 star on just what I have scanned through thus far, sorry for getting a book I didn't request.