In 1975, when noted conservationist Dr. Richard W. Carroll made his thru-hike of the two-thousand-mile-long Appalachian Trail, he had a bachelor's degree in biology, but his real education about nature's splendors began long before any formal training. In Cheshire, Connecticut, his mother was known as "Lill, the Flower Lady," the naturalist-in-residence. "2,000 Miles around the Tree of Life: A Naturalist Hikes the Appalachian Trail" is dedicated to her.

Richard began his journey from Springer Mountain, Georgia, on April 14, and on September 15, he climbed Mt. Katahdin at the northern...

"The Emperor and the Elephants" is a deeply moving memoir chronicling one Peace Corps volunteer's fascinating experiences in the Central African Republic during the late 1970s.

After hiking the Appalachian Trail in 1975, author Richard W. Carroll joined the Peace Corps, signing on as a fisheries extension agent in the heart of Africa. Balancing the rose-tinted writings of an optimistic twenty-three-year-old volunteer with pragmatic reflections from over forty years later, most of which he spent in Africa as a wildlife conservationist for the World Wildlife Fund, Carroll draws readers...