Variations on C̲o̲m̲i̲ṉg̲ i̲ṉṯo̲ ṯẖe̲ C̲o̲u̲ṉṯṟy̲ : a study of the use of travel in John McPhee's non-fiction

The purpose of this study is to examine John McPhee's use of travel in four of his books of Non-Fiction: Oranges, Encounters with the Archdruid, Survival of the Bark Canoe, and Coming Into the Country. In the first, Oranges, travel serves mainly as a frame for the facts that McPhee presents about oranges. The second, a treatise on conservation and a profile of people in the conservation movement, finds McPhee using travel to assign attitudes. In the last two books, McPhee's more mature work, multiple use of travel allows him to make almost poetic observations of the worlds he is presenting.