William J. Long

WILLIAM J. LONG, an American writer, naturalist and minister, was born in 1866. He loved solitude and would leave Sanford to travel to and ldquo; the wilderness and rdquo; of Maine every Marchwith his two daughters Lois Long and Cesca. There they would stay until the first snows of October, although sometimes he would stay all winter. In the 1920s, he began spending his summers in Nova Scotia, claiming as the wilderness according to him and ldquo; was getting too crowded".These wilderness experiences provided him material and background for his books, Ways of Wood Folk, Wilderness Ways, Wood-folk Comedies, Northern Trails and Wood Folk at School. Some of his earlier books included illustrations by Charles Copeland, while two later ones contained illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull.As a reaction to industrial revolution, public interest in the natural world was increasing. Long's books, rich in the wilderness, as they were, found a large audience and were even issued in schools under the title of The Wood Folk Series. His findings and observations however were at variance with the prevailing scientific wisdom of animal behavior. Long is said to have provided many examples, supposedly from his experience, to cast doubt on that prevailing wisdom, which raised some controversies. He was criticized for anthropomorphizing animal behavior, blurring the lines between the animal world and humans.Long also wrote English Literature which presents the whole splendid history of English literature from Anglo-Saxon times to the close of the Victorian Era.