Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West

John Wesley Powell fought in the Civil War and it cost him an arm. But it didn't stop him from exploring the American West.

Here Wallace Stegner, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, gives us a thrilling account of Powell's struggle against western geography and Washington politics. We witness the successes and frustrations of Powell's distinguished career, and appreciate his unparalleled understanding of the West.

"Stegner's most exciting work." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Note: B-O-T also has Down the Colorado with Major Powell, by James Ramsey Ullman (#1051)

Los Angeles Times - Patricia Limerick

The surrender of self-righteousness would be an enormous boon to the environmental cause. Acknowledging the unedited, complicated, utilitarian John Wesley Powell as an ideological parent would be a big step in that laudable direction, and it is this step that Worster's thorough and empathetic biography makes possible.

Taking the American frontier both physical and psychological as his subject, Wallace Stegner created a body of work that stretches from prizewinning novels and short stories to historical and political nonfiction. Taking both human experience and natural beauty as his muses, Stegner embodied what he called the western character.