A review by jjupille
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West by Wallace Stegner

4.0

I really enjoyed this. It starts off as something of an adventure story, a kind of "Undaunted Courage" on smaller scale, as John Wesley Powell becomes the first person to run the Colorado River. It merges in a lot of wonderful western art and photography, a whole bunch of science, and eventually a great mess of politics surrounding the birth of government science. Written in 1953, it ends by pointing out the similarities between that day and Powell's time, the same old fights, which of course are the same fights we see in 2015 in the west over exploitation vs. conservation, federal government versus states' rights, state vs. market, etc. etc. On the one hand, Stegner conceded something to Powell's narrative of progress. On the other hand, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian leaves open the question, to the 21st century reader, of whether the "two steps forward, one step back" rhythm will be able to keep pace with the rate at which we are draining the water. Water was the essential question of the West in the second half of the 19th century, and of course things are only getting more urgent. I recommend the book to anyone who wants to understand this foundational issue, and a whole range of (barely) secondary ones.