John McPhee's career as a literary journalist has been tangled with the history of The New Yorker magazine since he became a staff writer in 1965. A list of classic literary journalism in the twentieth century would include several of McPhee's books, which range in subject matter from nuclear physics to oranges, from Russian art to the attempts of humans to alter the course of nature, and from Alaska to the history of the earth as seen in the geology of North America. His beautifully articulated structures, clear prose, and participatory voice have become a model for other literary journalists. McPhee's career coincided with development of The New Yorker under editor William Shawn as the premiere publication for literary journalism, although in recent years the magazine has seen the most pronounced changes in its history. Scientific topics such as nuclear physics and geology and regional portraits of New Jersey...