There to Breathe the Beauty is historian Norman Brauer's Third -- and far and away most ambitious -- book to date. His two earlier books (like this one, privately published) covered the history of his hometown of Dalton, PA, where he has been a borough officer for 30 years as well as general chairman of the town's 100th anniversary celebration in 1995; and of the Northern Electric Railway, which served Dalton and other nearby Scranton areas in the early 1900s.

There to Breathe the Beauty began, like so many other books, by accident: Norms's purchase at a 1977, Allentown, PA auction of a number of unidentified camping trip photographs. Thus began inquiries which led ultimately to the Akron archives and to other rich sources, from which he was able to faithfully reconstruct the day-to-day movements of these yearly excursions, with accompanying photos for almost every event.

A 1948 University of Scranton graduate who took his Master's equivalency in elementary education at Marywood College, Norm has worked professionally in education, real estate and insurance and has long been involved in scouting and camping. He is a member of the John Burroughs Association.