Engaging, thoughtful and candid' Telegraph Waterlog celebrates the magic of water and the beauty and eccentricity of Britain.In 1996 Roger Deakin, the late, great nature writer, set out to swim through the British Isles. From the sea, from rock pools, from rivers and streams, tarns, lakes, lochs, ponds, lidos, swimming pools and spas, from fens, dykes, moats, aqueducts, waterfalls, flooded quarries, even canals, Deakin gains a fascinating perspective on modern Britain.Detained by water bailiffs in Winchester, intercepted in the Fowey estuary by coastguards, mistaken for a suicide on Camber sands, confronting the Corryvreckan whirlpool in the Hebrides, he discovers just how much of an outsider the native swimmer is to his landlocked, fully-dressed fellow citizens.This is a personal journey, a bold assertion of the native swimmer's right to roam, and an unforgettable celebration of the magic of water.

    This revised and expanded edition contains a new introduction by Lester Brown, founder and president ofthe Earth Policy Institute, new text and captions by environmental experts, and, best of all, an additional 17 photographs.

    Hers is a beautiful and daring vision of political, spiritual, and ecological transformation."All Our Relations" features chapters on the Seminoles, the Anishinaabeg, the Innu, the Northern Cheyenne, and the Mohawks, among others."One of the pleasures of reading "All Our Relations" is discovering the unique voices of Native people, especially Native women, speaking in their own Native truths."-"Women's Review of Books"..".as Winona LaDuke describes, in moving and often beautiful prose, [these] misdeeds are not distant history but are ongoing degradation of the cherished lands of Native Americans."-"Public Citizen News"..".a rare perspective on Native history and culture."-"Sister to Sister/S2S""Hers is a beautiful and daring vision of political, spiritual, and ecological transformation. "All Our Relations" is essential reading for everyone who cares about the fate of the Earth and indigenous peoples."-"Winds of Change""No ragtag remnants of lost cultures here. Strong voices of old, old cultures bravely trying to make sense of an Earth in chaos."-"Whole Earth"

    There's no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don't live in Wisconsin. This book features 111 species of Wisconsin birds, organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don't know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Fact-filled information, a compare feature, range maps and detailed photographs help to ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.

    Covering southeastern California, the southern half of Arizona, most of Baja California, and much of the state of Sonora, Mexico, this vast area is home to an amazing variety of plants and animals. Its terrain varies dramatically, from parched desert lowlands to semiarid tropical forests and frigid subalpine meadows. A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert provides the most complete collection of Sonoran Desert natural history information ever compiled and is a perfect introduction to this biologically rich desert of North America.The authors—experts in many fields—begin with a general look at the region's geology, paleoecology, climate, human ecology, and biodiversity. The book then looks in depth at hundreds of plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, native fishes, and invertebrates that live in the northern part of the Sonoran Desert. Throughout, the text is supplemented with anecdotes, essays, color and black-and-white photographs, maps, diagrams, and 450 finely-rendered drawings. This comprehensive, accessible natural history is written for nonscientists and will surely become an invaluable companion for nature enthusiasts, birdwatchers, hikers, students, and anyone interested in the desert Southwest.A copublication with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

    Veteran science writer Jon Luoma uncovers the inner workings of an ancient forest, from the microscopic bugs in the soil to the giant trees.

    This trend toward a more natural lifestyle has become something of a crusade for Annie Berthold-Bond, author of Better Basics for the Home. After developing hypersensitivity to even very low concentrations of chemicals, Berthold-Bond was forced to rid her life of as many toxins as possible. "It wasn't until I had to be away from chemicals that I began to realize how many we lived with. The extent of the contamination is startling--from hair spray and floor wax to dandelion killers and plastic shower curtains and other products that line our hardware stores and supermarket shelves." This book represents the culmination of her search for a more sustainable lifestyle. Taking her cue from an earlier time, Berthold-Bond, former editor in chief of Green Alternatives for Health and Environment, offers more than 800 simple and practical alternatives to common household toxins, covering everything from skin care to gardening. And the good news is that adopting her suggestions and formulas isn't hard at all. "Mixing up face creams or wood stain isn't much different than cleaning the windows with vinegar, soap, and water instead of using Brand Name X, or making a cake with flour, eggs and milk instead of buying a mix," see asserts. "With a few simple staples we can clean our houses, wash our hair, rid the dog's bed of fleas, and do many other things as well." If you have your doubts, here is her formula for metal polish: 3 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon flour, and enough white distilled vinegar to make a paste. Scoop the paste onto a clean sponge, and polish the metal clean. Rinse with hot water and buff dry. Sure, these days it's literally impossible to lead a life that is completely toxin-free. But you can significantly reduce your exposure, and picking up a copy Better Basics for the Home is a great way to get started.

    Water Light Time is an extraordinary collection of photographs by David Doubilet, a pioneering artist and diver who is widely acclaimed as the world's leading underwater photographer.From the Galapagos to the Red Sea, from the Pacific shores to the fresh waters of North America, Water Light Time includes over 25 years of Doubilet's work, to reveal the mesmerizing beauty of more than 30 bodies of water rich with fascinating life forms.

    While visions of pristine, uninhabited nature led to the creation of these parks, they also inspired policies of Indian removal. By contrasting the native histories of these places with the links between Indian policy developments and preservationist efforts, this work examines the complex origins of the national parks and the troubling consequences of the American wilderness ideal. The first study to place national park history within the context of the early reservation era, it details the ways that national parks developed into one of the most important arenas of contention between native peoples and non-Indians in the twentieth century.

    And in the distance, all but lost in these great sweeps of rock and sky, a group of teenagers, fresh out of suburban America, are struggling desperately to build new lives-beyond crack and crystal mete, beyond sadness, beyond a pain that has brought many to the brink of self-destruction.In Shouting at the Sky, award-winning writer Gary Ferguson is once again bound for the back-country, this time to spend a season in one of the country's most remarkable programs for troubled teens. Here you'll share in the daily triumphs and heartaches of an unforgettable group of kids. Witness their shock at the wilderness, outrageous with its bluster and open spaces, its lack of bathrooms and cooked meals, its absence of television, malls and old friends. Huddle with them on moonlit nights around a juniper fire. Sit for an afternoon on a canyon rim in the middle of nowhere and listen to their stories and poems: tales of anorexia and amphetamines, of depression and workaholic parents, of the grating fear that will not let them be.Shouting at the Sky is a story resplendent with glimpses into power of the human spirit and the healing that is possible when the beauty and challenges of the wild are linked to it. But along these trails can also be found issues of striking gravity: insights into how young lives can go terribly wrong and, in the end, how many of our fondest hopes for tomorrow and teetering on the brink, waiting for us to find the will, the courage to build more genuine connections to our children. "I can't imagine being broken down without a wild place to fall apart in," Ferguson writes. So this is also a very personal account of his participation as an observer, leader, and storyteller in the rites of passage these teenagers undergo in the Utah desert. It is a story of individuals, counselors and participants alike, grown-ups and youths, sharing the struggle to find themselves.

    What he found was a group of people whose tolerant, gentle way of life would transform his own values and beliefs profoundly. Wisdom from a Rainforest is Schlegel's testament to his experience and to the Teduray people of Figel, from whom he learned such vital, lasting lessons.Schlegel's lively ethnography of the Teduray portrays how their behavior and traditions revolved around kindness and compassion for humans, animals, and the spirits sharing their worlds. Schlegel describes the Teduray's remarkable legal system and their strong story-telling tradition, their elaborate cosmology, and their ritual celebrations. At the same time, Schlegel recounts his own transformation--how his worldview as a member of an advanced, civilized society was shaken to the core by a so-called primitive people. He begins to realize how culturally determined his own values are and to see with great clarity how much the Teduray can teach him about gender equality, tolerance for difference, generosity, and cooperation.By turns funny, tender, and gripping, Wisdom from a Rainforest honors the Teduray's legacy and helps us see how much we can learn from a way of life so different from our own.

    Yet, with incorrect, ignorant handling, it becomes diseased, affecting human, animal and vegetable life alike, causing physical decay and, in the case of people, their moral, mental and spiritual deterioration as well.Schauberger was a fearless exponent of natural energy and a fascinating polemicist, revelling in doing battle with contemporary orthodox scientists. Sadly, the same extractive and water management policies which brought devastation and widespread pollution in his day have even greater consequences today.Themes addressed in this book include:The natural pulsation of water and how to maintain itHow minute differences in temperature affect the natural function of water in the earth, in plants and rivers.How to regulate rivers without damaging their vitality and healthThe natural conversion of sea-water into fresh waterThe consequence of sterilisation and chlorination of water

    Judith Lowry's voice and experiences make a rich matrix for essays that include discussions of wildflower gardening, the ecology of native grasses, wildland seed-collecting, principles of natural design, and plant/animal interactions. Though this book is based on California gardens, readers from all parts of the country will be inspired and informed by these examples of gardening to include "the larger garden beyond the fence."Gardening with a Wild Heart promises to be a classic for lovers of nature writing, gardeners, bioregionalists, and students and professionals in horticulture, landscape design, and ecological restoration.

    Come follow Lewis and Clark's trail across Tillamook Head. Ride with Chief Joseph on his tragic retrat through Hells Canyon. Discover paths to fire lookouts, lighthouses, and abandoned gold mines. Relive legends, discoveries, scandals, and triumphs that rocked the West. Come hike Oregon's history!

    We assumed we could control the biological productivity of salmon and 'improve' upon natural processes that we didn't even try to understand. We assumed we could have salmon without rivers." --from the introductionFrom a mountain top where an eagle carries a salmon carcass to feed its young to the distant oceanic waters of the California current and the Alaskan Gyre, salmon have penetrated the Northwest to an extent unmatched by any other animal. Since the turn of the twentieth century, the natural productivity of salmon in Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho has declined by eighty percent. The decline of Pacific salmon to the brink of extinction is a clear sign of serious problems in the region.In Salmon Without Rivers, fisheries biologist Jim Lichatowich offers an eye-opening look at the roots and evolution of the salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest. He describes the multitude of factors over the past century and a half that have led to the salmon's decline, and examines in depth the abject failure of restoration efforts that have focused almost exclusively on hatcheries to return salmon stocks to healthy levels without addressing the underlying causes of the decline. The book:describes the evolutionary history of the salmon along with the geologic history of the Pacific Northwest over the past 40 million yearsconsiders the indigenous cultures of the region, and the emergence of salmon-based economies that survived for thousands of yearsexamines the rapid transformation of the region following the arrival of Europeanspresents the history of efforts to protect and restore the salmonoffers a critical assessment of why restoration efforts have failedThroughout, Lichatowich argues that the dominant worldview of our society -- a worldview that denies connections between humans and the natural world -- has created the conflict and controversy that characterize the recent history of salmon; unless that worldview is challenged and changed, there is little hope for recovery. Salmon Without Rivers exposes the myths that have guided recent human-salmon interactions. It clearly explains the difficult choices facing the citizens of the region, and provides unique insight into one of the most tragic chapters in our nation's environmental history.

    At different times gently introspective, humorous and thought-provoking, it explores the changes we go through as we gradually immerse ourselves in the deep woods, as well as the different rhythms we experience there.

    He is as passionate about swamps, bogs, and vernal ponds and the creatures who live in them as most of us are about our families and closest friends. He knows frogs and snakes, muskrats and minks, dragonflies, water lilies, cattails, sedges--everything that swims, flies, trudges, slithers, or sinks its roots in wet places. In this "intimate and wise book" (Sue Hubbell), Carroll takes us on a lively, unforgettable yearlong journey, illustrated with his own elegant drawings, through the wetlands and reveals why they are so important to his life and ours -- and to all life on Earth.

    They were killed by hunters or disappeared when their oak and beech habitats were destroyed. The last bird, named Martha (only the last of any species seems to merit a human name), died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1905." Here, in photographs and words, are stirring reminders of wild beauty that is no more, as well as profiles of species whose survival is in peril. Rosamond Purcell's seventy spectacular color photographs--taken primarily at the Natural History Museum in Leiden, Holland, which holds the world's most extensive collection of lost species--tell a haunting and foreboding tale.

    We learn about how human arrogance—demonstrated by our disregard for the small and microscopic species that constitute the Earth's engine and our reckless use of powerful herbicides or genetically engineered crops—is threatening the health of our children and the safety of our food supply. But it's not too late to change our course.From Naked Ape to Superspecies shows us that we are at a turning point—we can either push ahead on our path to destruction or we can reshape our place in nature and prosper. A new introductory chapter provides an overview of how the world has changed since the first edition was published. The final chapter of the book has been revised, and new examples and analyses have been added to the existing chapters throughout the book.Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation.

    This pictorial essay brings to life her work with these endangered red apes.

    Each season brings its own special gifts; if you look closely, you will find them. In winter, leaf buds on branches bear the promise of another year. In spring, while mallard nests with watchful eye, wood frogs sing their lullaby. In summer, fireflies dance under the moon with honeysuckle vines in bloom. In fall, when cold winds whisper frost and snow, the wild geese know it's time to go.Here is an exquisite celebration of the natural world, the cycle of the year, and the creative power that connects all living things.Be blest, for sun and moon and stars, sing praise for wind and air, rejoice for water, fire, and earth, give thanks for creatures everywhere.

    Here he presents the culmination of his ideas and urges us to move from being a disrupting force on the Earth to a benign presence. This transition is the Great Work -- the most necessary and most ennobling work we will ever undertake. Berry's message is not one of doom but of hope. He reminds society of its function, particularly the universities and other educational institutions whose role is to guide students into an appreciation rather than an exploitation of the world around them. Berry is the leading spokesperson for the Earth, and his profound ecological insight illuminates the path we need to take in the realms of ethics, politics, economics, and education if both we and the planet are to survive.

    Trout spawned in its waters and grizzly bears roamed its shores. The bountiful environment the river helped create supported one of the largest concentrations of Indians in North America. Today, the river is made almost entirely of concrete. Chain-link fence and barbed wire line its course. Shopping carts and trash litter its channel. Little water flows in the river most of the year, and nearly all that does is treated sewage and oily street runoff. On much of its course, the river looks more like a deserted freeway than a river.The river's contemporary image belies its former character and its importance to the development of Southern California. Los Angeles would not exist were it not for the river, and the river was crucial to its growth. Recognizing its past and future potential, a potent movement has developed to revitalize its course. The Los Angeles River offers the first comprehensive account of a river that helped give birth to one of the world's great cities, significantly shaped its history, and promises to play a key role in its future.

    Nova leads the reader into his courtship, marriage, the birth of his children, and his life as a father, husband, writer, friend, citizen, and angler. Just as the author observes the life of the elusive and beautiful brook trout in the tea-colored streams, he finds interconnections to his daily life--he teaches his daughter to build an igloo; he deals with the disappointment of a very public mean-spirited review of his much-anticipated novel; he gazes at his wife-to-be in her hammock by a stream; he finds himself the victim of a random blackmailer. Unpredictable and keenly observed, Nova leads us through the terrain of the life of an artist. The constants are the stream and the brook trout whic offer both respite from the demands of his life and a wellspring of inspiration and strength. It is a paean to nature and the beauty of the brook trout. This autobiography is a reprint and expansion of Nova's highly regarded memoir originally published in 1999. This new edition includes substantial sections of new work and an introduction by Ann Beattie.

    Children join Earle as she ventures into the ocean's depths.-- Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children

    PROF. BRUCE LENMANMarvelous account of mountaineering's prehistory... as coulourful as it is thought provoking

    Written by three of the foremost experts in this field, the authors employ sharp and thorough analysis of the laws, allowing them to share their extensive knowledge and experience with the reader. The authors provide a unique perspective on the implications of International regulation, promoting a wider understanding of the pertinent issues impacting upon the law.This edition features extended treatment of Genetically Modified Organisms and biotechnology as well as the implications of ethics and the environment. It also benefits from new material covering the role of the International Maritime Organization and Non-Governmental Organizations, which continue to grow in their influence over legislative provisions. These revisions ensure that not only does International Law and the Environment remain at the forefront of developments but continues to provide the most complete coverage of the growing subject of environmental law.

    The image of a herd grazing on Bureau of Land Management or U.S. Forest Service lands is so traditional that many view this use as central to the history and culture of the West. Yet the grazing program costs far more to administer than it generates in revenues, and grazing affects all other uses of public lands, causing potentially irreversible damage to native wildlife and vegetation.The Western Range Revisited proposes a landscape-level strategy for conserving native biological diversity on federal rangelands, a strategy based chiefly on removing livestock from large tracts of arid BLM lands in ten western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.Drawing from range ecology, conservation biology, law, and economics, Debra L. Donahue examines the history of federal grazing policy and the current debate on federal multiple-use, sustained-yield policies and changing priorities for our public lands. Donahue, a lawyer and wildlife biologist, uses existing laws and regulations, historical documents, economic statistics, and current scientific thinking to make a strong case for a land-management strategy that has been, until now, "unthinkable."A groundbreaking interdisciplinary work, The Western Range Revisited demonstrates that conserving biodiversity by eliminating or reducing livestock grazing makes economic sense, is ecologically expedient, and can be achieved under current law.

    One man's efforts to clean up the Fox River in Kane County, Illinois, in the early 1970s, some legal, some not so legal.

    Oates disagrees. Drawing on his extensive experience as a primate ecologist who has worked on rainforest conservation projects in Africa and India, he argues that the linking of conservation to economic development has had disastrous consequences for many wildlife populations, especially in West Africa. He maintains that in those parts of the world where people are very poor, human well-being is more likely to be promoted by large-scale political, social, and economic reforms than by community development schemes associated with conservation projects.

    Its ultimate goal is to establish an effective network of nature reserves throughout North America -- core conservation areas linked by corridors, and buffered, where appropriate, by lands that may also serve economic objectives.Continental Conservation represents the work of thirty leading experts-including Michael Soule, John Terborgh, Reed Noss, Paul Paquet, Dan Simberloff, Rodolfo Dirzo, J. Michael Scott, Andrew Dobson, and others -- brought together by The Wildlands Project to examine the science underlying the design and management of these regional-scale networks. It provides conservationists and biologists with the latest scientific principles for protecting living nature at spatial scales that encompass entire regions and continents.Following an opening chapter that sets the stage by introducing major themes and the scientific and policy background, the contributors: consider scale in the identification, selection, and design of biological reserves examine the role of top carnivores in regulating terrestrial ecosystems suggest the need for a paradigm shift in the field of ecological restoration consider the scientific details of implementing regional conservation in core areas, corridors, and in buffer zones discuss the need for megareserves and how to design themThe book ends by challenging the reader, whether scientist or advocate, to commit more time to the effort of saving nature. The authors argue that the very survival of nature is at stake, and scientists can no longer afford to stand behind a wall of austereobjectivity.Continental Conservation is an important guidebook that can serve a vital role in helping fashion a radically honest, scientifically rigorous land-use agenda. It will be required reading for scientists and professionals at all levels involved with ecosystem and land management.

    Each contribution calls on us to reclaim our human heritage of caring for our home fires -- a metaphor that can inspire the revitalisation of our connections to the earth, all living things, and each other. The writers examine the underlying ecology of sustainable living rooted in the historical traditions, environmental practices, and a sense of place of peoples of the Southwest; and they describe the impact that disruption of this way of life continues to have on health, well-being, communal identity. Drawing on an indigenous paradigm of healthy environment, healthy culture, healthy people, this book explores possibilities of applying the principles of sustainable living in both traditional and non-traditional communities.

    Combining up-to-date information on the therapeutic benefits of healing gardens with practical design guidance from leading experts in the field, Healing Gardens is an invaluable guide for landscape architects and others involved in creating and maintaining medical facilities as well as an extremely useful reference for those responsible for patient care. With the help of site plans, photographs, and more, the editors present design guidelines and case studies for outdoor spaces in a range of medical settings, including:Acute care general hospitals. Psychiatric hospitals. Children's hospitals. Nursing homes. Alzheimer's facilities. Hospices. Order your copy of this practical guide to the therapeutic effects and design of healing gardens today.

    The objective of this publication is the collection of relevant scattered material and the presentation of unpublished one, so as to give a complete picture of traditional architecture, and thus to contribute to the understanding, appreciation and preservation of the architectural wealth of Greece. Colour photographs of exteriors and interiors, original drawings of traditional neighbourhoods and houses reflect the wealth of architecture all over Greece. This volume covers Andros, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Santorini, Sifnos, Syros, Tzia (Kea) and Tinos.

    "The Wilderness Cookbook" provides easy-to-follow processes for drying vegetables, fruits and meat, and tips for travelling with fresh produce and meat.

    It presents a year at the authors' house written as a monthly journal, and describes how to grow, harvest and cook a wide range of vegetables, herbs and fruit.

    A must-have guide for gardeners with little space.

    Writing about hiking and camping and particularly about birds, Hopes invites readers to mark the moment when flower, bird, and mountain announce themselves to the soul, bristling and stupendous with power.

    Often, the level of support received depends on whether or not the goals and importance of the program have been clearly explained to the public, the press, or policymakers. Without good communication, even the best programs are liable to fail.Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals provides in-depth guidance on achieving conservation goals through better communications. It introduces communication approaches -- marketing and mass media, citizen participation, public information, environmental interpretation, and conservation education activities -- and offers scores of real-world examples and straightforward advice that will help conservationists develop the the skills they need to communicate effectively. Following an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the communication process, the book:describes research techniques for gathering background information and targeting audiencesoutlines the steps involved in developing a communications campaignexplains how to use mass media-from giving interviews to writing news releases and holding press conferencesprovides examples for developing interpretive media for conservationexplores long-term conservation education strategiespresents program evaluation techniques to determine the level of success achieved, or to identify steps for improvementThroughout, the author presents a rich storehouse of examples, guidelines, and planning tools for all kinds of communication challenges. Strategies and materials that have been used by organizations across the country -- from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to The Nature Conservancy, from Adirondack Park to Yellowstone National Park -- are featured, providing both inspiration and support for others involved with similar projects. Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals is a much-needed contribution to the environmental literature that will play a vital role in helping scientists, managers, concerned citizens, and students to more effectively communicate their knowledge and concern about the environment, and to achieve greater professional and community success with their environmental campaigns.

    Focused on fortuitous encounters and their manysided magic, Rosemont in these essays explores the importance of play, the affinities of alchemy and anarchy, poetry in the comics, the revolutionary significance of a fairy tale, the game of Time-Travelers' Potlatch, and the future of surrealism. SURREALIST EXPERIENCES: 1001 DAWNS, 221MIDNIGHTS is Penelope Rosemont's first book of articles and essays. It includes nearly two dozen texts originally published in surrealist journals from 1970 through the '90s, plus eleven that appear here for the first time. One of the few Americans welcomed into the Surrealist Movement in Paris by Andre Breton, the author has been a force in surrealism since the 1960s as a painter, photographer, and collagist.

    Starting with the prehistoric period, from which survives the famous settlement of Skara Brae, it goes on to discuss the flowering of the Celtic Church in the sixth and seventh centuries and the subsequent invasion by the Vikings, who settled there in large numbers and established a powerful Norse earldom. Sites and remains to be explored include settlements from the stone age, stone circles and burials from the bronze age, iron-age brochs, Viking castles, the magnificent cathedral of St Magnus, Renaissance palaces, a Martello tower from the Napoleonic Wars and numerous remains from the Second World War. This new edition has been revised and updated, and includes a new chapter that sheds light on recent findings.

    Grossman's words are elegantly paced with beautiful illustrations that anchor his message: nature and love are the keys to good health.

    Contributors from a wide range of college and university environmental studies programs discuss the benefits and challenges these programs provide and the consequent natural fit between environmental studies and service-learning.

    This volume is the first in-depth work to do just that: it situates the ethnography of the two areas within a comparative framework and examines the relationship between indigenous systems of knowledge and "place" -- an issue of growing concern to anthropologists. The essays demonstrate the manner in which regimes of restricted knowledge serve to protect and augment cultural property and the proprietorship over sites and territory; how myths evolve to explain and culturally appropriate important events pertaining to contact between indigenous and Western societies; how graphic designs and other culturally important iconic and iconographic processes provide conduits of cross-cultural appropriation between indigenous and non-indigenous societies in today's multicultural nation states.

    This well-researched biography, illustrated with archival and modern photographs, explores the life of the civil servant who masterminded the transformation of Paris from a disease-ridden Medieval city into the City of Light.