Charles Yaple’s latest book, The ‘Tree’ of Us: Richford Boys Who Changed The World And What They Left Behind (2023) is a deeply personal narrative mixing biography, history, and memoir to encourage the furtherance of a land ethic as envisioned by famed ecologist Aldo Leopold. The story follows the lives of three men, from the steeply forested hills of Richford, in Tioga County, NY, who changed the world.
Readers will quickly connect with the discussion about John D. Rockefeller, once the world’s richest man. Gurdon Wallace Wattles, the second world changer and friend to five U.S. presidents is less known. He was an early businessman, banker, and civic leader who became responsible for bankrolling much of early Hollywood. The third Richford native followed a less publicly known path and the reader is left to decide about his impact on the world.
The course of each life is instructive, particularly to those seeking a measure of happiness and a wish to leave behind a planet enabling others the same opportunity.
Charles Yaple is Professor Emeritus of Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies at State University of New York College at SUNY Cortland. He was also Director of the Coalition for Education in the Outdoors and editor of Taproot, the organization’s journal of outdoor education and co-founder, first Board president and long-time director of the Lime Hollow Center for Environment & Culture in Cortland.
Dr Yaple’s other books are: Foxey Brown: A Story of an Adirondack Outlaw, Hermit and Guide as He Might Have Told It (2011) and Jacob’s Land: Revolutionary War Soldiers, Schemers, Scoundrels and the Settling of New York’s Frontier (2017).
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