Edwin Way Teale can be credited with introducing nature writing to many Americans of the mid twentieth century. He appeared on television as spokesman for the environment and environmental writing, and he was known as a kind of neighborhood naturalist with a friendly manner and eagerness to teach people, especially children, about the natural world. His writings were widely admired, winning many awards. He also edited the popular Green Treasury: A Journey through the World's Great Nature Writing (1952), one of the first anthologies of the genre, and he was an accomplished nature photographer whose photographs appeared in a wide variety of books and magazines. His work has been translated into ten foreign languages and has been transcribed into Braille for the blind. He is frequently mentioned as an influence on many later nature writers.

The son of Oliver Cromwell Teale and Clara Louise (Way) Teale, Edwin Way Teale...