Quest for the Sublime

by Richard Bangs

Published 15 October 2008
In addition to being a picturesque setting for organized tours into the wild, Switzerland has long been considered the birthplace of adventure travel and the wellspring of eco-tourism. Byron, Shelly, Keats, and Wordsworth all traveled to Switzerland, and upon reaching the Swiss Alps the word they chose to describe what they saw was, not surprisingly, sublime. Here, Richard Bangs embarks upon a new adventure to discover what sublime truly meant to those early travelers and to know how the experiences of past poets and artists transformed the concept of travel. Along the way Bangs examines questions surrounding natural resources, finding answers in Switzerland that may serve as examples for the rest of the world.

Running such wild rivers as the crocodile-infested Tekaze in Ethiopia, Richard Bangs used to lived for the adrenalin, for the rush of reveling in the misery of hardship and sidestepping death around every bend. Now a respected conservationist, he still travels to demanding exotic environments, but with a new, more sober objective: he wants to save these special places. Bangs' personal experiences of "witnessing many special places preserved and lost" led him to write Adventures with Purpose, and the book follows the author to Bosnia, Libya, Panama, the American West, Rwanda, Thailand, and more as he seeks out disappearing cultures, peoples, habitats, and ecosystems -- particularly rivers -- so that he can show readers that the loss of these special places will be a catastrophe. Written in the vivid, intimate style that made his earlier books both critical and commercial successes, Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose is an unforgettable composite portrait of a world in peril and an inspiring guide to rescuing it.