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A review by kathleenitpdx
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West by Bernard DeVoto, Wallace Stegner
3.0
John Wesley Powell is an interesting person. And Wallace Stegner has a way with words (some of them made-up, as far as I can tell). His descriptions of Powell's running of the Colorado are wonderful. And Stegner's contention that Powell and this era had a profound impact on the western US seems well founded. And Stegner's observations in 1953 (when the book was published) as the US emerged from the Depression and WWII with building and development that dramatically changed the west are a lesson in themselves.
BUT...this is not a "popular" history book and Stegner includes some distracting tangential information. Stegner seems to assume a knowledge of historical figures that have not crossed my path before. He includes a section on who named what physical features and who they were named after. He also has quite a dissertation on who drew/painted/photographed the Grand Canyon. Neither of these sections adds much to Powell's story. His using Gawain and the Round table as a metaphor for betrayal is fine. But to use Walter Murray Gibson as an example of an impostor leaves all but historians of the LDS Church or the Kingdom of Hawaii in the dark.
I would have liked a bit more on Powell's personal life. His wife disappears from the story early (and I think pregnant)only to be mentioned again as Powell retires.
But there is much "meat" here for thought about the federal government's role in science and its application to federal policies.
BUT...this is not a "popular" history book and Stegner includes some distracting tangential information. Stegner seems to assume a knowledge of historical figures that have not crossed my path before. He includes a section on who named what physical features and who they were named after. He also has quite a dissertation on who drew/painted/photographed the Grand Canyon. Neither of these sections adds much to Powell's story. His using Gawain and the Round table as a metaphor for betrayal is fine. But to use Walter Murray Gibson as an example of an impostor leaves all but historians of the LDS Church or the Kingdom of Hawaii in the dark.
I would have liked a bit more on Powell's personal life. His wife disappears from the story early (and I think pregnant)only to be mentioned again as Powell retires.
But there is much "meat" here for thought about the federal government's role in science and its application to federal policies.