Joseph
Wood Krutch (1893–1970) was an American writer, critic, and naturalist. Born
in Knoxville, Tennessee, he
initially studied at the University
of Tennessee before receiving a master’s degree from Columbia University. He is the author of several books on a variety of topics, including biographies
of Samuel Johnson and Henry David Thoreau. The Measure of
Man, which is perhaps his most
enduring work, was
published in 1954 and won the National
Book Award for Nonfiction the following year. After moving to Arizona in 1952, he wrote books on ecology,
the southwestern desert environment, and the natural history
of the Grand Canyon, winning
renown as a naturalist and conservationist.
