Heading West with Wallace Stegner

The history nerd in me got me interested in John Wesley Powell, the one-armed guy who first traveled through the Colorado River’s wilder reaches. When I saw the book offered by my library was written by Wallace Stegner, I couldn’t resist. Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West was published in 1953 but it reads much more freshly than you would expect from a 65-year-old book.

For anyone who has interest in either the U.S. West or in the wise use of environmental resources (specifically) or in the best uses and limits of government or in the complexity of human existence, this book is highly recommended.