John Burroughs (1837 1921) was an American naturalist important to the Conservation movement. He like Thoreau wrote essays on nature. Burroughs was the Grand Old Man of Nature when the American romance with nature, and the American conservation movement, had come fully into their own. He grew up on a farm in New York and at age 17 became a teacher. Burroughs wrote over 30 books and published hundreds of essays. My Boyhood was written when Burroughs was in his seventies. His reminiscences of farm life are full of a nostalgic looks back at a time when life ran at a much slower pace. His love for the land and his family run deep through these pages.