Penguin Books
$18
March 1992
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From the publisher<\/strong><\/strong>: Wallace Stegner recounts the successes and frustrations of John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of Indian tribes of the American Southwest. A prophet without honor who had a profound understanding of the American West, Powell warned long ago of the dangers economic exploitation would pose to the West and spent a good deal of his life overcoming Washington politics in getting his message across. Only now, we may recognize just how accurate a prophet he was.\u00a0<\/p>\n From Marya Johnston, owner:<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> I know this is an old book, but there are so many new residents in our state, maybe they should be introduced to classics of western literature and conservation.\u00a0 What better way to start than with this book?<\/p>\n I first read this book as a college student and\u00a0 I loved it. \u00a0 It recently came out as an audio book from libro.fm<\/a> , so I decided to give it a listen.\u00a0 Wow.\u00a0 Now that I know so much more about western history,\u00a0 portions of the book I breezed through when younger,\u00a0 take my breath away now.\u00a0 Wallace Stegner is just a master.\u00a0 His prose is the standard by which all other books about the West should be measured. \u00a0 Powell\u2019s life has been chronicled many times, but everyone could better understand the West by reading this masterpiece.<\/p>\n Today, as multiple\u00a0 fires rage on the Western Slope and our part of the world gets hotter and drier, I shake my head in shame that Powell made dire predictions about trying to turn the West into the same country as east of the hundredth meridian\u00a0 and we have still not caught up to him.\u00a0 I was impressed\u00a0 long ago by his grasp of the land and its complications, how he fought for an understanding of the West in Washington in the late 1800s, and yet today lawns and golf courses are still getting watered in the heat of the day. Will we ever stop trying to make the West something it is not?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe tried to conserve the West\u2019s natural wealth so that it could play in full its potential part in the future of the United States.\u00a0 He tried to dissipate illusions about the west, to sweep mirage away. He was a great man and a prophet.\u201d\u00a0 This is from Bernard DeVoto\u2019s introduction to the book, and to whom the book is dedicated.\u00a0 As you may remember from one of\u00a0 my previous reviews, \u201cThis America of Ours,\u201d about DeVoto,\u00a0 he and Stegner are heroes to me;\u00a0 the West\u2019s best champions and writers.\u00a0 Read this book.\u00a0 Give it to all your friends.<\/p>\n Nathan Hale\u2019s Hazardous Tales: Major Impossible<\/p>\n By Nathan Hale<\/strong> From the publisher<\/strong><\/strong>: John Wesley Powell always had the spirit of adventure in him. As a young man, he traveled all over the United States exploring. When the Civil War began, Powell went to fight for the Union, and even after he lost most of his right arm, he continued to fight until the war was over.<\/p>\n In 1869, he embarked with the Colorado River Exploring Expedition \u2014 10 men in four boats \u2014 to float through the Grand Canyon. Over the course of three months, the explorers lost their boats and supplies, nearly drowned, and were in peril on multiple occasions. Ten explorers went in, but only six came out. Powell would come to be known as one of the most epic explorers in history.<\/p>\n From Marya Johnston, owner:<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> The subtitle of this graphic novel is a little misleading, as it covers more than just the Grand Canyon.\u00a0 It begins with Powell\u2019s first expedition down the Green and Colorado rivers, beginning in Green River, Wyoming, and has flashbacks to his earlier life as a young man in Ohio and Illinois, his time on the battlefields of the Civil War \u2014 from which he came away minus an arm, and his associations with,\u00a0 and respect for,\u00a0 Native Americans.<\/p>\n Though it\u2019s sold as a young person\u2019s graphic novel, the research involved (Nathan Hale has been down the Grand Canyon five times and his bibliography is spot on) make this a book for all ages.<\/p>\n Life After Dead Pool<\/p>\n By Zak Podmore<\/strong> From the publisher<\/strong><\/strong>: After decades of drought, the American West is stretched to the breaking point. A changing climate and design flaws in the Glen Canyon Dam have pushed the once-massive Lake Powell reservoir to the brink of collapse \u2014 putting at risk millions of people who depend on the Colorado River for water, agriculture, and electricity. Now, as Glen Canyon reemerges, its surprising ecological rebirth reminds us that nature\u2019s capacity to heal may well outpace our own imaginations.<\/p>\n Environmental journalist Zak Podmore explores the complex challenges ahead and reframes the inevitable loss of Lake Powell as a turning point for a more sustainable future. Through an arresting mix of science and storytelling, \u201cLife After Dead Pool\u201d debunks the notion that the West\u2019s water challenges are unsolvable and invites us to secure a future where the Colorado River once again runs free.<\/p>\n From Marya Johnston, owner:<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> It\u2019s hard these days to read anything about water in the West without some sort of anxiety. It\u2019s double anxiety for those of us west of the Continental Divide. Our reliance on the Colorado River is no joke. And Lake Powell? Well, I\u2019ve read my fair share of Ed Abbey, so I\u2019ve never had a great opinion of the place.\u00a0 All I could ever think about were the ruins and petroglyphs buried under the water.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Zak Podmore\u2019s journalistic and environmental experience (and top notch writing)\u00a0 make him the perfect person to contend that the lake\u2019s days are numbered. But there\u2019s hope. Podmore lets us imagine a day where the Colorado flows freely through Glen Canyon again and the silt gets carried away by the water to where it is best used in the agricultural lands to the south. One way or another, Podmore says, things have to change. We have to either let the river flow freely or let Lake Powell fill up with silt. And yes, it can be done.\u00a0 We can live without that dam.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026Lake Powell will begin to disappear downstream.\u00a0 Glen Canyon will bloom again. One day there will be light at the end of the tunnel, yes, and also: a river.\u201d<\/p>\n THIS WEEK\u2019S BOOK RECS COME FROM:<\/strong><\/p>\n Out West Books<\/strong><\/p>\n 533 Main St., Grand Junction<\/p>\n
Harry N. Abrams
$15.99
December 2019
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Torrey House Press
$23.95
August 2024
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