A Wilderness Within: The Life of Sigurd F. Olson
By: David Backer
David Backes met Sigurd and Elizabeth Olson while an under-graduate at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He Later lived for a short time near Ely, Minnesota and visited with the Olsons at their home on several occasions. Their Encouragement helped convince him to go to graduate school at Madison, where, shortly after Olson's death, he wrote a master's thesis about his key role in banning airplanes from the area known today as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. By 1900 Elizabeth Olson, who had carefully guarded her husband's image and was often reluctant to provide access to his papers and diaries, granted David permission to write Olson's biography. David not only had the opportunity to read and study his private journals, he also extensively interviewed other members of the Olson family and many others who knew Sigurd Olson, including such major figures in conservation history as former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall and Park Service Director George Hartzog.
David is professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is also the author of Canoe Country: An Embattled Wilderness and The Wilderness Companion.
