First published in 1935,Pilgrims of the Wild is Grey Owls autobiographical account of his transition from successful trapper to preservationist. With his Iroquois wife, Anahereo, Grey Owl set out to protect the environment and the endangered beaver. Powerful in its simplicity,Pilgrims of the Wild tells the story of Grey Owls life of happy cohabitation with the wild creatures of nature and the healing powers of what he referred to as "the great Northland" of "Over the Hills and Far Away."

A bestseller at the time,Pilgrims of the Wild helped establish Grey Owls international reputation as a conservationist. His legacy of warnings against the degradations of nature and the dangers of industry live on, despite the posthumous revelation that he wasnt, in fact, the First Nations man he claimed to be.

Grey Owl (1888-1938), an Englishman, immigrated to Canada as Archibald Belaney in 1906 and quickly constructed an identity as a Native, assuming the Ojibwa name Wa-sha-quon-asin and eventually settling in Saskatchewan on Ajawaan Lake. He spread his message of preservation through multiple bestsellers, includingThe Men of the Last Frontier, The Adventures of Sajo and Her Beaver People, andTales of an Empty Cabin.

Michael Gnarowski co-editedThe Making of Modern Poetry in Canada, compiledThe Concise Bibliography of E nglish Canadian Literature, and edited the Critical Views on Canadian Writers Series for McGraw-Hill Ryerson. He has written forEncyclopedia Americana, The Canadian Encyclopedia, The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography, andThe Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry. Gnarowski is professor emeritus at Carleton University in Ottawa.