From the Book - First American edition.
Part 1. Departure: Emerging ideas. Beginnings
Imagination and nature: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Humboldt
In search of a destination.
Part 2. Arrival: Collecting ideas. South America
The Llanos and the Orinoco
Politics and nature: Thomas Jefferson and Humboldt.
Part 3. Return: Sorting ideas. Europe
Revolutions and nature: Simon Bolivar and Humboldt
Going in circles: Maladie Centrifuge
Part 4. Influence: Spreading ideas. Return to Berlin
Evolution and nature: Charles Darwin and Humboldt
Poetry, science and nature: Henry David Thoreau and Humboldt
Part 5. New worlds: Evolving ideas. The greatest man since the deluge
Man and nature: George Perkins Marsh and Humboldt
Art, ecology and nature: Ernst Haeckel and Humboldt
Preservation and nature: John Muir and Humboldt.