Professor Rachel Gross published her first book this spring, Shopping All the Way to the Woods: How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America, a Yale University Press publication. Congratulations! This achievement is the culmination of 13 years of research, writing, and tireless effort on Professor Gross’s part. The book explores the “profitable paradox of the American outdoor experience: visiting nature first requires shopping.” Examining the massive growth of the outdoor industry in the past 150 years, Gross argues that this very success was predicated on “selling an authentic, anticommercial outdoor identity” and neatly demonstrates that “outdoor culture is commercial culture.”
Professor Gross notes two main sources of inspiration for her work. “I spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid,” Gross recalled, “but also at home reading Boys Life Magazines and handbooks, dreaming about all the outdoor activities I wanted to do but didn’t have access to.” It was here that her love of the outdoors truly took root, but it was a post-college fellowship that sparked her interest in the unique connections between commercial culture and the outdoor industry. The fellowship paid for a year of backpacking around the world, during which time Gross was often questioned about the pack and equipment she brought: why had she packed so much? Why had she picked specific items to bring with? Gross realized that the rules she knew for how to do the outdoors the “right way” were uniquely American, shaped by culture more than anything else, and wanted to explore this distinctly American outdoor culture. Her book is that exploration.
After over a decade of work, Gross of course finds the book’s release and reception very exciting. “Reception happens in a lot of different ways,” and she says its sometimes difficult to remember that people other than her family are reading the text. What’s been most gratifying are the unsolicited emails and comments from readers she doesn’t know: people who see themselves in her work, and are inspired by it. Don’t miss Professor Gross on her book tour this summer for a chance to discuss the book with her!
Professor Gross looks forward to her next focus of study, exploring the history of our CU Denver campus and the neighborhood displacement enacted to build the University, allowing her to use her skills in service of the local community.