University of Nebraska Books

I cannot tell you how intense this book is! I just could not stop reading because I was so worried about the characters. I have never felt so much suspense from any book, and this is non fiction! The author writes with skill to keep the pace moving while explaining historical facts and details. Each chapter, whether describing the party's preparations, their adventure through a desert, or their extreme ordeal in the snow, was informative and captivating. I loved how the reader got to know most of the characters, and when it came time for them to suffer their terrible ordeal, you will be left on the edge of your seat rooting for certain people to make it out alive! The decisions these people make are so fascinating, the action so thrilling, and the story so swift, that you will be completely engrossed! This book is as good as it can get!

Ordeal by Hunger is George Stewart's definitive book on the Donner Party. The Donner Party was a pioneer wagon train on it's way to California in the 1840's. After a series of setbacks caused by unfortunate decisions, they are forced to spend the winter high up in the Sierra Nevada. Low on food, and in a harsh environment, the families do unspeakable and sometimes incredible things to survive.

The story is well told. The participants are portrayed neither as heroes or ghouls, but as ordinary people who act both heroic at times and cowardly at others. The travelers were forced by hunger to make decisions and accomplish feats that one finds hard to imagine. Stewart does not center the story around the cannibalism, although he doesn't run away from it either. The book is about survival and human endurance, and the character of men when we are tested. As Stewart writes toward the end of the 1935 edition, "Few, I fear, will find it always easy reading. But after all, the merely pleasant is thin and bloodless; a picnic in the park scarcely gives humanity a chance to show of what it is capable."

For those who seek adventure and history at the same time this book is for you.The tale of the Donner Party is well known, at least to those who find the formation of the west exciting. What makes reading it all worth while is that it truly happened.For want of a shorter route to California this wagon train opted to take a different way.They were informed of it by a well known and respected source they had no reason to doubt.This proved their undoing and in the race against time and weather they most assuredly lost more than they bargained for.The book is practically a day by day chronology of the progress or lack thereof and the flight into cold,dwindling supply,starvation,death and ultimate survival of the fittest over the period of about a year.Then, of course, there is that other notable facet of this particular successful failure which set it apart from the rest.The inclusion of the unspeakable taboo known as cannibalism which got some of them through, just barely.The rescue attempts, the incredible, unbelievable depth of the snow, the arctic type temperatures and the animalistic,subhuman existance these party members had to endure makes for some intense, incredible reading.The book which has undergone several revisions also include actual diaries of some of the party and supplimental material by the author which add to the story and tend to back up the facts which went into the writing of the book. It is clear he took his work seriously. Originally written in 1936, it is a labor of love and truly a definitive reference of the tragedy.If real, actual history coupled with horrible,palpable and dire circumstances is your meat then you have found a winner in Ordeal by Hunger.You won't put it down for long.As you progress you feel as if you are part of the intensity,anxiety and fear as you experience not only one race against time but a second race where each day that passes meant the difference between life and death for young and old alike.Not unlike Scott returning from the South Pole after his struggle toward it only to face second place to Amundsen.Returning was a daily struggle against loss of strength,food and weather that wouldn't let up.He did not make it back and died on the ice frozen harder than a popsicle,but that's another story.There are other books about this unique episode in American history you could read and you should watch the available documentaries but this book has stood the test of time and is all you would need if questions or interest about the Donner Party should come up in your safe,warm,dry,well fed,happy, uncomplicated life.Barbequed ribs,flank steak and beef jerky will never look the same again and you might turn down an offer to spend a winter vacation in a cabin in the woods as well.Read this book to appreciate what you have and what the Donners et al. sacrificed to get some for themselves and their families.Some made it through and some never knew what hit them or bit them.Enjoy!

We bought this book at the Reno Nevada airport after spending a week in the Truckee area. My wife and I both went through the book in record time. It's hard to put down once you start.

Written over 70 years ago, this account of the Donner Party is still captivating and contemporary. Stewart was a fastidious historiographer as well as a gifted storyteller. This fascinating drama unfolds crisply and frankly. Despite the gruesome details, or perhaps because of them, one becomes engrossed and enticed to keep turning the pages to learn what happened next.

The 1960 supplement was interesting but drier than the original 1936 text. The diary entries and letter from three of the survivors provide a unique view into the ordeal, and the reference summaries are useful aids for keeping the characters and itinerary straight.

I've been reading some of the Cather books and have enjoyed all of them. The best part of this book is her story within a story technique. Her descriptions of the American southwest are outstanding. This book held my attention, especially as it progressed. It is not as good as "My Antonia", which to me is her all time best, but it is an excellent reading experience.

Willa Cather is one of the top five American writers. She gets little notice, it seems, today. I find that very strange, given the feminist movement in America. I've read three of her other books and this is the oddest, and most wonderful, or perhaps I forget how O Pioneers, Death Comes for the Archbishop and My Antonia affected me so greatly.

Nothing seems to happens in her books and yet they blow me away and I remember them always. I do not exaggerate that they haunt me. I know that sounds dramatic, but that is what a good book does.

I struggled with this book. I'd read twenty pages, put it down for weeks, come back and read twenty more pages and then, finally I said I was going to finish it. As I was starting to read the last sixty pages -- it is a short book -- I was thinking to myself: 'I'm sorry I ever started to read this.' I was merely finishing it as a sense of duty. But then, the last thirty-five pages had me by my heart and it 'explained' all that I had plodded through previously.

I don't know if I can recommend this book. I'd fear that it would bore to tears any friend who would read it. But for me, it's effect is monumental --- and it has been a while that I can say that about most books I've read. I suspect that this book does not move younger readers as it does older readers, as it is a summing up of a man's life and how he has lived it. I'm not sure that a person who has not put many years into living would understand Miss Cather's brilliance in how she does this through --ironically--a quite ordinary professor's life.

I am a huge Willa Cather fan and have been reading her novels in the order she wrote them. I started "The Professor's House" in eager anticipation, because I just LOVED "A Lost Lady," the book that preceded it.

"The Professor's House" has many, many good elements, but ultimately I was disappointed. The last part of the book was unworthy of what had gone before. In the end, I felt as though I'd invested a lot in the Professor and that that investment had not paid off. I'm glad I read it, but think it's nowhere close to one of Cather's best.

I thought the first two section of the book were excellent. I believed almost everything about the Professor's life and his relationships. My only criticism of the beginning portion of the novel was Cather's superficial and, yes, bigoted attitude toward the Jewish son-in-law, Louie Marsellus. I didn't have a problem accepting Louie as a real person. But Cather could only see him and comment on him as "the other." One of Cather's great strengths is her understanding of how the world looks to the different characters in her novels. She may not agree with who they are and how they act, but she is usually deeply empathetic. Not so with Louie. The fact that he is a Jew is somehow taken as an explanation for everything. Even in 1925, I expect better of a writer of Cather's insight and talent. Interestingly, Louie is ultimately one of the most sympathetic and generous characters in the novel. But Cather writes as though she'd never had a close Jewish friend, or never applied her prodigious imagination to contemplate Louie's psychology and point of view.

Still, even with the problem with Louie, I thought the first book was very good. It was filled with the wonderful writing and the psychological, sociological and philosophical depth that I so admire in Cather.

I also enjoyed the second book, Tom Outland's story. I agree with an earlier reviewer that the section set in Washington, D.C. was particularly good. I was raised in Washington, and my mother's family has lived there since the 1840's. Cather just NAILED the town.

But it all came to a crashing halt in the final section, when we return to the Professor's story. Did Cather lose interest? Did she not know where to go with the Professor? This section was too short and undeveloped. The first two parts of the book deserved a more thorough and satisfying conclusion. I particularly objected to the section about how the Professor had gotten back in touch with the unthinking boy he'd been back in Kansas. Hogwash. Not credible. This guy's an intellectual. He might come to see the limits of what many academics pretentiously call "the life of the mind." But jettison it entirely for some romantic, unreal Tom Sawyer fantasy? I don't think so.

My advice: do read "The Professor's House," but don't make it your first Cather book.

Those expecting something as vivid and moving as "My Antonia" will be sorely disappointed by this book. Ms. Cather was at her worst when she wrote in imitation of earlier lady novelists such as Edith Wharton or Henry James, and the entire first half of this novel concerns the intrigues of a Midwest Brahmin family. During this part there is absolutely no plot, just tedious description and some of the most stilted dialogue ever written. The cardboard characters include the good-natured protagonist, Professor St. James, and his two daughters, one sweet (Cordelia?) and one rapacious (Goneril?). The bad daughter is lolling in luxury due to the avaricious machinations of her husband, who, naturally, is a Jew - a stereotypical Jew, the worst kind.

If that weren't bad enough, when a plot is finally introduced it concerns a preposterous device (or substance) called "the Outland vacuum" which is said to concern bulkheads and be a boon to aviation. It seems as though the novel will now hinge on the moral issue of who is entitled to the rewards for this great discovery (the Outland vacuum may also be a gas), but I suspect that at this point Ms. Cather realized that she had gone in over her head, and the novel comes to a sudden halt. The next page begins a second novel, about as bad as the first but which takes place among cowboys out West who discover a lost Indian city.

Alas, this likewise amounts to little, and we eventually return to the warmhearted professor who comes to the good-ol' American conclusion that being rich and famous is not all it's cracked up to be, and real happiness is found among the plain folk.

Y'know, people, just because something is old and ostensibly literature doesn't mean it's really great. My only worry is that schoolkids will be forced to read this - under the theory that classic fiction is "good" for them - and they will thus be alienated from reading books because they're so dull.

I read My Antonia and loved it so much that I consider it one of my favorite books. And, that's why I really really really wanted to like this book. But after giving it a chance for about 218 pages, I couldn't bear it any longer.

The problems I have with this book are as follows:

1) I understand the book's plot of the professor trying to find meaning in his life. That's the book I was looking for. The problem is that the Tom Outland character does not get you there and most of the text of the book is on this character.

2) Which brings me to my biggest gripe about this book, and Cather in particular. Cather cannot, to save her life, write a believable male character. Tom Outland is supposed to be an orphaned boy turned cowboy around the turn of the century, but Cather managed to make him out to be so unbelievably feminine that I found myself in wonder at how little she knows about men. She holds Outland out to be the hero of the story, the inspiration behind the Professor's motivation. That's fine, but if I'm supposed to conclude the Professor part of the story, then I have to buy Outland's character and it's just not possible. Here are some examples of Cather not being believable:

a) When she describes Tom Outland's hands through the professor's eyes, she describes them as beautiful and delicate. Worse still, she bothers to describe them in detail. Men don't do that.

b) Around page 218 when she begins Outland's tirade against Blake she makes Outland sound off like a nagging wife about how Blake shouldn't have sold the pottery etc. Men don't argue this way with friends; they don't have hissy fits - they stay quiet!

c) After the argument in (b) above, as Blake leaves the scene, she describes Outland wishing to run after him and hold him in his arms. Men just don't think like that.

d) When Outland is in Washington D.C. trying to get people to take interest in the pottery he discovered, he lets himself get ignored, disrespected, and he waits by tolerantly while being stepped on by people in positions of power. That's not a description of a turn of the century orphaned cowboy; that's a description of a turn of the century well-to-do woman of society - the only world Cather appears to know.

e) Whenever Tom Outland meets other men in his life as a cowboy, they are always really "nice and pleasant". Indeed they are overly accommodating. Huh? I could see cowboys being really respectful and accommodating to a beautiful woman of society (like Cather) but an orphaned cowboy? She just puts too much of herself in this character. I couldn't buy it.

3) Now before reviewers think my gripes are based on some sort of homophobia, let me just say that if it had been a story about men in love with each other, I would have accepted that as at least being believable. But that's not Cather's intention. Outland ends up marrying the professor's daughter. Is Cather trying to send out a bisexual message of some kind? Was the professor gay? The text just does not support any kind of homosexual message either explicitly or implicitly.

4) Cather plays out Outland to be this super human being. Indeed he is the inspiration to the Professor and all the other characters in the book. But if that's the case, why is he on the wrong side of the moral debate on the Dreyfus affair? Cather wrote this book in 1925; twenty five years after all the facts had already come out on that case and yet Cather has Outland take the side of bigots?

5) In Outland's tirade against Blake, Outland chews him out for selling ancient pottery belonging to native Indian tribes. Earlier in the book it's concluded that the tribe was decimated by outsiders. In chastising Blake, Outland declares that Blake was wrong to sell the pottery because it was not his. He says that the pottery belongs to his country, to the State etc. That's the best our hero can do? Wouldn't the right thing to do be to leave the ruins to themselves and not dig up the belongings of the decimated people - i.e. let them rest in peace?

Anyway, I was sorely disappointed. I gave The Professor's House one star more than it deserves only because My Antonia deserves six.

I think I first tried to read BRCM more than 20 years ago, but set it aside for something shorter and more immediate. Maybe I just needed the extra years under my belt to fully appreciate Stegner's accomplishment with this book. Four major characters, all members of the same family, are fully fleshed out and just as human as fictional characters get. Bo and Elsa Mason and their two sons, Chet and Bruce, form a kind of microcosm of American society during the hard times that stretched from the turn of the century into the Depression. And there are no real "bad guys" in this story; only people who are victims of their own appetites and dreams, and of their own heritage and hardscrabble surroundings. This is still a powerful story, even after 65 years. I recommend it highly. - Tim Bazzett, author of Reed City Boy

There is no denying Stegner's iconic status as the dean of "western writers." While Big Rock Candy Mountain isn't actually his first novel- it feels like a first novel, and a startling, impressive effort to boot. Big Rock is supposed to be an autobiograhical tale that charts the travails of Stegner's own nuclear family- Dad Bo- a rough and ready frontiersman who is always a day late and a dollar short, his mom Elsa- a near runaway from the Scandanavian settlements of Minnesota- who married the first man she fell in love with, brother Chet and little Bruce- who, as it turns out, is the Stegner character.

Despite some peculiar narrative technique (including a tedious lapse into second person narration "You take the hose to the cellar, you wash the potatoes by hand" etc during a few chapters of the book, the pacing and observation is first rate, as you would expect from a master of american literature. Three or four times during the course of reading Big Rock, I found myself looking at the copyright to verify that this book had indeed been published in 1943.

Stegner's style is certainly "naturalism" and it's hard not to hear the echoes of Theodore Dreiser's "Sister Carrie" in the character of the Elsa. However, the beautiful, evocative descriptions of little towns in North Dakota, wheat farms in Saskatschewan, Montana roads during the prohbition era, and depression era Salt Lake City are what kept me reading to the very one.

Although big rock is 500+ pages, it's a pretty quick read- I managed to read all but the last hundred pages over the course of a hot, lazy labor day weekend sunday.

I enjoyed the book. Stegner does a good job evoking life around this period (1900-1930s), and describing realistic characters. However, the mother - she was portrayed as a saint - was exasperating with her infinite patience and understanding of her husband's inexcusable behavior.

I'm sure there were and are women like Elsa, but I would characterize them as co-dependent and lacking an iota of self-respect/esteem, rather than as extraordinarily kind and wise. For example, it's truly pathetic how she apologizes to one and all for being so much trouble when she's deathly ill.

This is probably one of the darkest, most merciless books I've ever read -- exceeded only in bleakness by Sigrid Undset's "Master of Hestviken." I picked it up expecting a book about pioneers, but "Little House on the Prairie" this is not, though it was written around the same time (early 1940's). Imagine pioneering not with the gentle, kind, intelligent, and progressive Charles Ingalls as your father -- but with his unstable, bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, violent, abusive and sadistic twin. This book could serve as a nifty handbook for women on the perils of marrying a sexy baseball-playing "bad boy." The mother suffers, and suffers, and suffers some more -- the father acts horrible, and more horrible, then redeems himself somewhat, but eventually devolves into one of the most truly despicable characters in modern fiction, whilst mom is martyred by her own bad choice in a man. Seriously, there were moments in this book when I was shocked -- SHOCKED! -- and I don't consider myself a lightweight. All the same, I just couldn't put this book down! It's an incredibly interesting portrayal of the tragectory of a f***ed-up American family 1880-1920, including the infamous 1918 flu epidemic. And the father really is a fascinating character; if you are an amateur psychologist it's fun to identify his various pathologies.

Wallace Stegner wrote "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" relatively early in his career (1943, at age 34), and the book reflects the author's enormous talents, which were still developing at that time. Stegner tells the tale of Bo Mason, who leads a rootless life on the fringes of the law. Mason is a bootlegger, gambler and precious metals speculator. Each peak he achieves is higher than his last, and each valley is deeper. This is true both financially and in his relationship with his wife, Elsa, and two sons, Chet and Bruce. Some reviewers point out that the story is somewhat autobiographical. That's probably a safe assumption. But it's also the story of the American West a century ago, where raw optimism, the struggle for acceptance, and harsh realities shaped people's existence.

The harsh reality of "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" is that it isn't one of Stegner's best works. Of course, that's a very high standard. Readers will understandably have great expectations when diving into this book, and some may be disappointed. For example, the younger son's seething hatred towards his father is introduced early in the book and is central to the conclusion, but is poorly developed in the interim chapters. Likewise, the voice of the book drifts between the 3rd person and the 2nd person. This gives the reader a voyeuristic glimpse into each character's personal thoughts. It's a nice gimmick, but awkwardly executed.

On an absolute scale, this book is a no-brainer 5 stars. But relative to other Stegner novels, "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" has some minor flaws. Read it and you'll certainly enjoy it. But you'll appreciate even more the experience of reading the early efforts of one of America's greatest 20th century writers.

Many other reviewers have expressed more or less my sentiments about this book, but I shall add my own voice. 'A Lost Lady' is very short but extremely rich, with the elegance of a waltz but the depth and richness of a symphony. The style is capable, but limpid and graceful; the characters are sympathetic and their experiences meaningful. Cather paints a beautiful picture of a 'golden age' in decline. This is rightfully a classic. Highly recommended for all interested in American fiction, or good literature in general.

Critic Leon Edel wrote of Cather, "The time will come when she'll be ranked above Hemingway." Well, I'm there! In fact, I've been there since I finished "O Pioneers." For the last several years, I've been reading her books in order and just marvel at Cather's talent, her insights, and the economy of her writing.

I was disappointed in "One of Ours," the Pulitzer-Prize winning book that preceded "A Lost Lady.' The Midwest sequences in "One of Ours" were fine, but Cather seemed lost in unfamiliar territory when the setting switched to World War I France. "One of Ours" was a memorial tribute to a beloved relative of Cather's, so perhaps her emotions got the better of her writing and her observations.

I was glad that she returned to the land and people she knew best with "A Lost Lady."

Every word in this little book rang true to me. Every character - major and minor - was alive and fully realized. The events and settings - all vivid and deeply credible.

In fact, I stayed in bed all one morning to finish this book. Like a great mystery - this was a "page turner" for me. Cather sprinkles delicious hints throughout that propelled me forward. The satsifaction I felt at the end was similar to what one feels after finishing a first-rate mystery - only here the satisfaction was on the much higher plane of great literature.

If you've read "O Pioneers," "Song of the Lark," or "My Antonia," you know that Cather understood strong, admirable women. What a revelation that she could ALSO write a great book with a charming but weak woman as its central character. We admire and like Marian Forrester for her wit and grace, while at the same time we deplore her superficiality and hypocrisy.

Like Neil, we never are quite sure who Mrs. Forrester is, what she thinks, or what motivates her. But that is precisely what makes this book such a work of art - and so true to life. I expect to reflect on Mrs. Forrester, Neil, the Captain - even Ivy Peters - and the others for many years to come.

This probably should not be the first Cather book you read. "O Pioneers" or "My Antonia" are probably better choices. But don't lose sight of this small but dazzling jewel.

Once again Willa Cather vividly and yet quietly brings out the inherent loneliness of the American homesteading West.

Set in a small railroad town, the story focuses on one young man's perception of a "lady" who he sees as unlike any other that he has know. Beautiful, lively, kind, aloof yet she shows a warmth and depth that Neil (the protaganist) was unused to in his frontier town.

Over time, heart-ache and isolation eventually cause her to lose her soul.

Cather is a genious in her quiet portrayial of this lonely woman and the on-going breaking of her spirit. Loneliness invades every word, every image and every character in "The Lost Woman".

I would recommend that this novel be listened to as well as read. Reading Cather is a joy, but there are so many details of language that are easy to dismiss unless you can hear the words.

Wonderful.

Compelling in its description of time and place, A Lost Lady is about old railroad society and chronicles the graceful standout Marian Forrester, a great lady of the old school. In a time where ladies wore dresses and were hosts to house parties and dinner parties, Mrs. Forrester, the second wife of Daniel Forrester, comes from California to a small railroad town in the midwest called Sweet Water to homestead and receive great men of the railroad at her home. She falls upon hard times and new money takes over old money, but she is always revered by Neil Forrester, a young boy who watches her downfall. Mrs. Forrester is the last holdout from old times, and she remains a fixture in Neil's memory long after the last railroad has been built.

What a beautiful story! What a magnificent writer Willa Cather is. This relatively short story is sure to captivate any fan of hers who has not had the pleasure of perusing this gem yet. If you enjoyed "My Antonia" and/or "O Pioneers!", then I can guaranty you, you will simply love this novella.

"A Lost Lady" is the story of Marian Forrester and her much older, but very charming and amicable husband Captain Daniel Forrester. The Forrester's live in the small Western town of Sweet Water. The novel is written through the eyes of a young man Niel Herbert who also lives in Sweet Water and is good friends with the Forrester's. Ever since he was a young boy, Niel, along with just about everyone else in Sweet Water, is truly entranced by the grace, charm and beauty of Mrs. Forrester. She is the true embodiment, the aesthetic ideal of the perfect woman. However, as Niel grows up and becomes a young man he slowly but surely learns that this goddess is not without her flaws and short comings. In many ways, Marian Forrester, is our American version of Flaubert's Emma Bovary. However, Cather paints for us a much more simplistic, endearing, and sympathetic character than the latter in my opinion.

This is such a beautiful piece of literature. It may not take the average bibliophile long to finish this work, but the favorable impression it will leave upon you makes this one to good to pass up. My only knock, I wish the story was longer, for I was truly absorbed from the first page to the last.

5 STARS without thinking twice!

Not since I read "Walden" has a book so moved me. If you ever loved a river, or a piece of land, or ever felt at home in the presence of Nature, then you will delight in this book. But if you are a Texan, then heaven help you, this book is nothing less than magic.

As another reviewer suggested, Mr. Graves should be considered a National Treasure, or nothing less than a Texas Treasure.

I lived in Texas for 8 years and have seen the Brazos and the alligators and armadillos on its banks (although the Brazos that I saw was the section close to its mouth to the gulf and not the part that's described in this book). I have left Texas for a while now. On a recent trip back to Austin, I picked up this book in a local bookstore and I am glad I did.

In this book Graves blends travelogue, history, folklore and personal reflections in a highly readable account. It is personal, anecdotal, sentimental, but not overly melancholy. The language is relaxed, yet well crafted, it gives you the feel of an intimate dialog, but the author also has tight control over what he chooses to say instead of rambling to endless tedium. The conversations, though few, carry the authentic flavor of western Texas, and as other reviewers alluded to, remind one of Steinbeck's writing. In a sense Graves was the last link to that frontier era -- although he was too late himself for the bygone days, he looked backward into those days, and personally talked to people who were its last ruminants. Even this book was written nearly 50 years ago now. Today we can get some glimpses of replicas and trinkets from museums, souvenir shops and Hollywood movies, but to get a real feel, one has to resort to books like this one. What is lost is not just another river.

(A side note: if you like river rafting stories, you may want to check out Colin Fletcher's River)

As a native Texan, I grew up with the stories of the wild frontier and I'm sure that Graves did too. But he takes those stories and, with beautiful prose, shows the really hardscrabble life that folks overcame on the edge of the frontier. Not the stories of Texas Rangers, but of ordinary pioneers who made a life for themselves despite drought, snowstorms and other natural disasters. But the book is also a wonderful "painting" of a part of Texas that is rich in history and natural beauty. A must-read for anyone who wants to know what Texas was like before the arrival of air conditioning and the discovery of oil.

This is one of my favorite books. I went to YMCA and Scout camp in the Palo Pinto country. Back then, the divide that exists today between the so-called "cultural elite" and rural Texas didn't exist (or at least both sides respected each other enough to be civil, as a funny episode from the book relates), and Graves lived in both worlds. His is a lost generation, and although only one or two of the dams along his route got built, the country is now part of the vast exurb of Dallas-Fort Worth, filled with rural retreats for the city folk, 5 acre ranchettes, and driveways lined with 40-thousand-dollar pickup trucks. Graves doesn't mourn its loss, but commemorates what seemed like "progress" in the 60s and has only accelerated thousandfold since. If you pass through that country, or want to know what rural Texas used to be like, read this book. It's a bit long in the telling, but if you trace the journey on a map, it was no small trip.

I was very impressed with this book. Graves does so much in this enjoyable volume. As he takes a canoe trip down the Brazos near where he grew up, he shares the history of the land--both recent and not-so-recent. Through him, we learn the reality of life for the average settler on the edge of the frontier. He also seems to be detailing a life that in his time was declining and in our age is nearly completely gone. His writing is difficult to describe and unlike anything I have ever read. It flows smoothly with a combination of regional speech and erudition. As you read you feel like you are in the canoe with an incomparable guide to this region of our state. A great book that deserves to be read much more widely than it is.

Mr. Utley is one of the leading Billy the Kid and Lincoln County War historians and authors. In this book, he tends to lean toward accepting ideas from some of the earlier authors without further research. This book has a lot of information on Billy, some factual and some very doubtful. It does give some idea of how Billy became a fearless outlaw and is well worth reading. The reader will come away with a little better understanding of Billy's predicament and the reasons why he probably turned outlaw..

An understanding of Billy the Kid's life is greatly enhanced with a study of the Lincoln County War, and Robert Utley's knowledge of the Lincoln Couty War is unsurpassed, (see his other book, "High Noon in Lincoln.") Utley's genius is his ability to bring these complicated historical moments to life, and weave the thread of a person's life through the moment. With this information you can better understand Billy the Kid's thought process, and the details of the jail breaks and shootings become more meaningful. Robert Utley is the most scholarly of all outlaw historians, and this book reveals his ability to bring his knowledge home to the rest of us.

You have to wonder sometimes why some people become legends. What was it about the Kid that attracted so much attention, especially at the time of his death? A very short time after he was shot to death by Pat Garrett, newspaper accounts flashed around the country about the demise of the great "desperado" and five dime-novel "biographies" appeared, getting most of the facts wrong but creating a "hero." Life is strange.

The Kid was born Henry McCarty in NYC (!) in 1859. He began being called Billy after his mother married William Antrim in 1873 in Santa Fe. (At times he also assumed the name Bonney, but no one knows why.) He gained a reputation early for escaping arrest; one time he escaped custody within hours after being arrested for horse stealing, and another time he escaped out of jail by crawling up the chimney. He escaped again in 1877 (aged 18) after being jailed for killing an army blacksmith at Fort Grant. He was in Lincoln County, NM, at the outbreak of the so-called Lincoln County War. He was involved or at least present during many of the violent incidents that plagued Lincoln County in 1878, and was wounded twice.

Deep in trouble by now and getting deeper, he was wanted for a number of crimes, some of which he did not commit. Governor Lew Wallace offered him immunity for testimony in one killing, but the Kid saw a double-cross and escaped. He added cattle rustling to his criminal activities, which brought the enmity of local ranchers down upon him. Pat Garrett was elected sheriff in Lincoln County with the special task of bringing the Kid in. He was captured in December 1880 and brought to trial in Mesilla in March 1881; he was charged with murder, found guilty, and sentenced to hang in May. While in jail in Lincoln he killed the two guards and escaped; for three months Garrett tracked him down, finding and shooting him in a ranch house at Fort Sumner, NM. The Kid was 21 years old. Then the legend exploded onto the scene.

They say he shot a man at age 12 (false); that he killed lawyer Billy Chapman (innocent); that he led the Regulators during the Lincoln County War (false); that he was a deadly shot (probably good, but not extraordinary). It's true that he killed at least four men. He loved to laugh and was a big hit with the senoritas (despite his buck teeth). He spoke Spanish fluently. He was an excellent monte dealer. He was "slim, muscular, wiry, and erect, weighing 135 pounds and standing 5'7" tall; he had deep blue eyes and wavy brown hair. He fancied wearing a Mexican sombrero." Chances are good (I think) if it weren't for the dime-novelists he would forgotten today.

But he's not forgotten and Utley's account of his life (and legend) is magnificent. Definitive is the word for it, replacing Maurice Fulton's HISTORY OF THE LINCOLN COUNTY WAR as the best work on the Kid. (It wasn't until the last few months of his life that he was known as Billy the Kid.) Utley's scholarship is renown in the Western field; his series of books on the military history of the West is likewise definitive. If you're interested in the Kid and want to learn all there is to know about him (fact and fiction), this is the book to get. Highly recommended.

In 1988, 'Young Guns' was released in theatres and followed by it's sequel 'Young Guns 2: Blaze of Glory" in 1990. The popularity of these films gave birth to a re-newed interest in the story of Billy the Kid. Despite all the factual errors throughout the movies, they remained popular. Meanwhile, 1989 saw the made-for-tv movie "Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid" starring Val Kilmer as the Kid. This version was a bit more historical in its telling of the legend. Unfortunately, many people seem to think that the 'Young Guns' versions are the truth and will pass off their "expertise" to other people based on these, admittedly entertaining movies.

In 1991, however, Robert Utley put forth the book "Billy the Kid: A short and violent life", in my opinion, to help disclaim all the accepted myths about the young Henry McCarty aka Henry/William Antrim aka William Bonney aka Billy the Kid. Utley is a well-researched southwest historian, focusing on the Lincoln County War and inevitably, Billy the Kid. This book is pretty simple in its layout, giving a nicely done and researched biography on the outlaw Kid. Utley gives straight facts, pieced together from old newspapers, books, and three other Billy-specialists that are generally regard as THE authorities on Billy the Kid. When finishing the book, you can't help but realize just how wrong many of the movies are, especially the two Young Guns movies. The story is a bit dry in places, but then, if not for the growing myths and greatly exaggerated stories of the Kid, he never would have been of any consequence in the history books. The Lincoln County War would have ended the same and about the only real influence the Kid had was to make Pat Garrett slightly better known.

The most telling bit of this biography is dispelling the myth of the Kid's death toll. Popular myth says 21 people were killed by the Kid when in reality, he can only solely by attributed with four kills. He had a hand in 5 others but nowhere can it be proved that the Kid made the killing shot. And lastly was James Carlyle who was shot by his own posse after a random gunshot sounded out which may or maynot have come from Billy. Being generous, thats only 10 deaths that he MIGHT have had a hand in.

Overall, this is a well done research biography by a respected western historian who bypasses the enflamed stories of the Kid and presents the truth as best he can. Excellent footnotes and references are included. Whether professional or just have a mild interest, this text should be in any western historian's library.

I became curious about William Bonney, AKA Billy the Kid, when I first saw the movie Young Guns starring Emilio Estevez. I loved the movie but wanted to know how much of the story was Hollywood hype and how much of it was history.

Accordingly I found Utley's book on Billy the Kid and found, to my satisfaction, that not only was much of the Young Guns story was accurate but that the life of Billy the Kid was as interesting and complex as any to be found in the annals of the Old West.

The debate rages on as to whether young Billy was a poor, misunderstood folk hero or whether he was an ignorant, bloodthirsty miscreant who needs to be vilified and forgotten. Utley's well-researched and well-written book takes a multi-faceted approach to considering the complex history of young man who, despite is very short life and his even briefer career, continue to spark the imagination over a century after his death.

Tris Speaker is someone is someone worth reading about. It's claimed that he is the biggest "old-time" baseball superstar not to get the recognition years later that others in his era obtained.....and after reading this book, I'd have to agree.

Speaker was not the most pleasant of people, but he sure could play the game, and manage it. I can see where this man was a legend in Cleveland. The unfair part is that he should be a legend to all baseball fans who appreciate a little history of the game. No, he wasn't Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb, but who was? Speaker does have the fourth-best career batting average in history and was considered the best centerfielder of his era. He played a shallow field and raced back to catch balls like the great ones have done since Joe DiMaggio, but he did it much better than anyone prior to him.

Here's a man who has fantastic offensive "numbers," but is one of the all-time great defensive players in baseball history as well, holding numerous defensive marks, too. He "did it all," as they say.

What makes this book interesting isn't just Speaker's baseball ability but his quirky and complex personality. There was a lot of good and a lot of bad in the man, which translates to a good biography, which author Timothy Gay provides for us.

Of course everyone has heard of Willie Mays, Joe Dimaggio, Duke Snyder and the great Mickey Mantle. Did anyone ever hear of Tris Speaker???
Probably not!! His fielding exploits are on par with the Say Hey Kid. Mr. Speaker played the shallowest centerfield in MLB history!! He leads the Major Leagues in Outfield Assists!!! His batting average is better than both Dimaggio and Mantle. His lifetime hitting of doubles will probably never be broken.
Tristium Speaker was born in 1888 in Texas. His first Major League club was the Boston Red Sox where he became a leading hitter and outfielder . While he was there he helped Boston to win 2 World Championships.
However, it was not until he was traded to Cleveland in 1916 that Mr. Speaker really became a legend. He played centerfield and later was asked to be Player-Manager of the Cleveland Indians. He directed the team in an extraordinary season in 1920 to become the World Series Champions. For you that don't know, please Google October 10, 1920.
Tris Speaker's life is well documented in this book. Please read it. You will learn that everything baseball does not reside in the Bronx!!!!

Tris Speaker is probably the best baseball player (excluding Negro League greats like Oscar Charleston) who has been largely forgotten by the public today. Even most casual baseball fans have at least heard of Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, and Walter Johnson, but you mention Tris Speaker in any baseball discussion, you are likely to get blank stares in return. This is a shame as Spoke (as he is called) was truly one of baseball's greatest players. Timothy Gay has written a solid biography that is equal parts the story of Spoke's life and a history of the early era of baseball. One thing I really liked about this book was that it was partly a story about Spoke as a player, but I also learned a great deal about Spoke as a person. Spoke grew up in small town Texas before the turn of the century. It is interesting that he started his professional career in Boston, which couldn't possibly have been any further from his roots. Gay makes a great deal of Speaker's antipathy toward Catholics, blacks, and everyone who would have been out of place in his Texas hometown. I think that Spoke's time in Boston was very difficult for him personally, and he was often in conflict (i.e. fisticuffs) with many of his teammates, but it ultimately made him the man that he became (eventually marrying a Catholic woman!). Spoke's best seasons were with the Red Sox (where he was a contemporary of the Bambino), but he really came into his own when he went to the Indians (guiding them to one of their two World Series pennants). I think that he always felt more comfortable in Cleveland, remaining active in that city long after his baseball days were over. Spoke's reputation was severely tarnished by his involvement in a gambling scandal. Gay discusses this at length and suggests that Spoke may have become one of the greatest managers had he not been tainted by gambling (he was effectively banished from the game after 1926). Gay ultimately indicts all the participants: the players, the management, the owners, in the sad saga of gambling during the second and third decade of the 20th century. He makes a strong case that Spoke (and even the Black Sox) paid a heavy price for the sins of many. The taint from gambling may in part explain why Spoke is not so well known today. In any case, this is a solid, if not uniquely outstanding, bio of a great player and I think will be of interest to any baseball fan regardless of how much they know (or don't know) about the deadball era. This tends toward a scholarly book (detailed, well documented), I certainly wouldn't characterize it as a light read.

Mr. Gay has written one of the better baseball books I have ever read. Tris Speaker is a great read. The author weaves the history of the game and its relationship with Speaker. As a Red Sox fan, I've always been interested in learning more about Speaker and this book filled that void.
Great job.

This is probably the best baseball bio I've read yet. Unlike many other bios of renowned players of the past that delve into the playing statistics of the subject, this one does it's share of that but also touches on the life of his subject outside of the game, the attitudes of the nation, city, and people of the time, and the evolvement of those attitudes during and after the course of the subject's career.

I recommend this book to anyone who may be interested in Speaker, the deadball era, or just baseball in general. Thumbs up from me.

"Log of a Cowboy" is as advertised, a simply written narrative of a trail drive, as straight-forward as its cowboy hero. While not great literature (or is it?), it has a freshness that makes it fun to read. The sheer labor of the trail drives made them heroic! The image of hundreds of trail herds making their way north is awesome.
Many modernizations of Andy Adams' original novel have been made. This one is easily readable and very enjoyable. Jack Hannah's song based on it, "Trail Drive", is true to this story that tells of trail boss Flood and the trail hands' adventures in Dodge City, as they "trail 'em slow" to Montana.
If you yearn for a simpler time, love adventure, remember "Wagon Train" and "Rawhide" fondly, or just want to be transported to another life, this book will do it.

I was expecting a little more excitement in this book than what I read. I was a little disappointed, to the point that I almost didn't bother to finish it. I wouldn't buy this book again if I had the chance.

I'd give The Log of a Cowboy 5 stars as an excellent story of life on the cattle drive trails. It's a great read...
But, the quality of this particular edition is very poor.
Blurry print, ink blotches, and even some unreadable sections, makes this edition a poor choice. It looks as though someone just ran the text through a poor quality copier.
Given a price of $38.00, I would certainly expect better.
Try any of the paperback editions, and avoid this one.

I have completely lost track of the number of editions and printings I have seen of this book, over the years, and a quick search with Google will produce a number of different free e-texts available on-line. However, almost every edition known to me is missing an introduction; there is therefore (1) no information about the author, and (2) no information as to whether what we have is a novel written in documentary style, or an actual nonfiction account of a typical trail drive in the early 1880s.

Well, folks, it's a novel, as the largely symbolic names for the characters might indicate: Priest, Flood, Officer, Strayhorn, Forrest, Blades, Wheat, Straw, etc., etc. I finally got around to reading it, and enjoyed it. Nothing spectacular or overdrawn--- it would not be surprising to discover that every incident is based on something that directly happened to the author or one of his cowboy sidekicks during his trail-herding days. All the classic situations are here, including visits to Dodge City and Oglalla, fiendishly difficult river crossings, stampedes, rustlers, con-men and segundos, chuck wagons and remudas, saloon gunfights and card-sharping. The number of 20th Century western authors who turned to this 1903 novel to obtain some authentic details to insert into their own trail-drive sequences is probably also close to uncountable.

"The Log of a Cowboy" was published in 1903 and tells the story of a five month long trail drive that took the circle-dot long horns from just a little south of Brownsville up into the Indian territory of the Blackfoot Agency - a 'pasear' of nearly 3000 miles.

When I came to this book, I didn't exactly know what to expect. The only other western I had read since childhood was "The Virginian", a book that seemed very fictional (although I enjoyed it greatly). "Log of a Cowboy" is entirely different. It reads more like an autobiography -- which some historians have suggested it is. Certainly there is an authentic feel to the book that is unmistakable. Rather than being over the top, the stampedes and gun battles are underplayed, although they certainly maintain their own levels of excitement.

My own response to the book: I found it hard to put it down. The story was full of adventure and cow and cowboy trivia and it was just plain fun. I ended my read with a great deal more respect for the cowboy and his craft. Who knew that cattle liked to bed down on higher terrain?!?

Five Stars. Despite being fiction, "Log of a Cowboy" remains a wonderful historical resource. Persons interested in the Old West should find it a satisfying read, although they should not expect a overly polished presentation. And for those who are considering this book for younger readers it should be noted that there are some very non-PC(politically correct) speech and actions. This book was, afterall, written over one hundred years ago.

~reviewed by Pam T.~

I've lost count of the number of books that I have read on ancient warfare, especially those featuring Hannibal and/or Caesar and accepted most that they were realistic reporting on history as we understood it - without ever really questioning the sources on which these books were based.

Then I picked up this marvel of historical analysis. I can say without reservation that Delbrück is quite simply the first historian of ancient warfare that I've encounted that actually ANALYSES the material that he is writing about.

His analysis of the Battles of Cannae and Pharsalus (to mention but two examples) are brilliant for their exacting detail and consideration of factors other than sheer numbers makes this work really stand out. I could write a book about how good this book is (and I suspect many have), but suffice to say that if you have an interest in ancient warfare and want to read something that will really get you thinking then this is one book that you do not want to miss.

I can't wait for the 2nd volume to arrive so I can get stuck into that as well.

While Delbruck does offer some interesting theories, his scheptic attitude toward Roman historians, ie Livy, while not to be taken too literally, does offer some merit. Hans simply tends to call " fable" to many Roman achievments. For instance, the punitive expedition to recover the Roman standards after the disaster of the teutoburger forest in 15 AD. by Germanicus resulting in Arminius's defeat... Hans also calls "phalanx" to caesar's formations in the battle of pharsalus?? Clearly by this time the Romans had abandoned the Phalanx! He also does not believe the Romans used manipular formations after the battle of Cannae, belittles the achievments of Marcellus after Cannae. Offers no tactical explanation on how the Romans defeated Hasdrubal at the Metarus!

If you want a revisonist view, read this book, otherwise I would'nt take it seriously.

This book and its sister volumes are a must have for any serious or amature historian. He is methodical in the extreame in fully backing up the conclusions he reaches. Some may be upset by his debunking of long held myths i.e. Barbarian numerical superiority in battles with Rome, and many people will confuse his use of terminology but he never makes a claim with out strong support. You will rarely see such research and footnoting in the commonly free-wheeling military history world. One commentor attacked his use of the term Phalanx for example. It is unfortunate that so many people have fallen into incorrect common references for such fundamental ancient battle formations. Delbruck is absolutely correct in his use of the term Phalanx since its correct usage is to reference the mass of the formed infantry in any ancient army and not individual units as so many have come to believe as a result of poor scholarship by many casual historians. This is a particular problem in the wargaming world where much terminology, phalanx among them, is incorrectly used. In fact Delbruck does one of the best jobs you will find pointing out the reasons to be skeptical regarding army size reports through out history and is very methodical in showing where these exagerations most notably occur and why. He does all this while not dismissing the core importance of the first hand accounts he is referencing. If you want to begin to understand ancient warfare this is the book you should start with and all others should be held to its high standard.

Splitting the classical era into two separate volumes was an ingenious move. Delbruck allowed himself enough room to explore the downfall of the Roman Empire (and clear up some misconceptions about it) and the warfare of the Germanic tribes that had become the Roman armies. The bad side to this work is that it focuses exclusively on Europe, leaving aside any investigation of what was going on in the Eastern portion of the Empire -- events that led to the recruitment of the Germans. This should not dissuade you too much from reading this book. It is important to keep in mind that Delbruck was doing all of this on his own, without assistance (and often in the face of opposition) or previous scholars to rely upon. If Dlebruck's "Germanness" is disappointing, his scholarship is still amazing.

The debate over the accuracy of Delbruck's revisionist approach to historical battle accounts aside, Warfare in Antiquity is an impressive effort by a meticulous author.

First of all, it should be made clear that these volumes are not "History of War" or "the Art of War", but "History of the Art of War." That is, you must already have or be prepared to obtain a historical context for the subject matter - Delbruck spends virtually no time providing background or summaries of the subject matter. In addition, Dulbruck does not address (at least, in his initial volumes) how war ought to be waged (ala Clausewitz). Rather, the focus of his work in on the evolution of the art of war employed at key historic events.

These volumes are at their most engaging in the study of ancient warfare. The analysis of the evolution of tactics in response to weapons, fighting styles, population, and geography is fascinating.

I have two major gripes with these books (and yes, I realize the author is long dead and unable to satisfy my deficiencies): First is the serious need of editing and revision. So much information is crammed into the footnotes, addenda, and revised responses that it makes the read of each chapter something like transcendant deja-vu. It makes for a multi-tiered reading experience that is quite unique, and disconcerting. Secondly, a few diagrams, maps, or plots would have been extremely helpful. I'm afraid that I'm a product of an educational system that limits my ability to conceptually distinguish between knolls, hillocks, rises, and a plain-old hill.

As to Delbruck's penchant for demythologizing ancient battles, I can only say that he is fairly convincing, most notably with regard to Marathon.

Superb. So well written. Needless to say, Stegner writes of areas he has known first hand, rivers he has navigated and the depth of times and places only he seems capable of knitting together. A must-read for Western American historians and those having just general interest. Reminds one of Bechloss' Undaunted Courage, although slightly different considering the time written and the base purposes of the journeys.
Sandy Greenblat

Once upon a time in the West, a man named William Gilpin was blown westward along with an expedition of John Fremont that took him as far as Walla Walla, Wash. In 1846 he fought in the Mexican War. In 1861 he went to Washington, DC, after Abraham Lincoln was elected. Later he became the first territorial governor of Colorado. Once upon a time, Gilpin saw the land beyond the 100th meridian (which runs through the center of Nebraska and Kansas) through a mystical fervor. The semiarid lands were no desert, but a pastoral Canaan. Agriculture would be effortless. All that was needed was the plow break the soil so that rain would naturally follow.

At the same time that Gilpin was convincing the country that the West was a Biblical Paradise, an exploration party headed by John Wesley Powell was camped a few miles from Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was 1868. At this time Powell was not the pioneer that Gilpin was, and he was 34 compared to Gilpin's 55. Powell's interests were always varied. In 1860 his *mollusk* collection won awards at the Illinois State Agricultural Society fair. In 1861, he volunteered to join the army in the Civil War. Within six months he rose through the ranks to become a captain, an expert on *fortifications*. In April of 1862, Powell lost an arm due to a Minie ball at Shiloh. Powell continued through the war. In 1865, Powell began a professorship in *geology* at Wesleyan.

Powell began his exploration of the Green and Colorado rivers on July 6,1869. On August 30, 1869, only six of nine men and two of four boats managed to go all the way through the Grand Canyon to come out near Yuma, Az. The rest of the Colorado had already been explored. In a few short months, John Wesley Powell had gathered enough data to challenge Gilpin's portrayal of the West. For the rest of his life, he would try to convince Congress of what he had learned about the proper way to treat the land beyond the 100th meridian.

Powell's geological and *ethnological* work and his study of Native American *languages* continue today to form the basis for our understanding of these subjects for southern Utah and northern Arizona.

Almost everything that could be done wrong in the development of the modern American West (and not just the Rockies westward, but the High Plains as well) was warned against by Maj. John Wesley Powell, but done anyway by the federal government and various states.

The result? Water crises, fights over water rights, lying, chicanery and stealing in the name of water rights, corporate farms squeezing out small farmers, urban sprawl and smog in the middle of deserts, dust bowls and more, were either forseen or hinted at by Powell.

The 100th meridian of latitude is the U.S.'s "dry line." Areas to the west, generally, before you get to the Pacific Coast, average less than 20 inches of rain a year. Hence the title, and the basis of Powell's warnings.

And, AND, all of that came after this one-armed Civil War veteran led the first navigation of the entire whitewater section of the Colorado, actually starting on the Green River in Wyoming and running all the way down past the Grand Canyon. (Despite some claims otherwise, it seems pretty clear James White did NOT do this.)

It was this trip, in the name of scientific research, that gave Powell his standing to eventually found the Bureau of Ethnography, do further Western research and make some top-notch recommendations for the development of the west.

The reason I didn't five-star this is that I would like to have seen a little more depth to Powell's post-exploration career. Also, a little more personality profile of Powell's struggle with disappointment over the Newlands Act and other repudiation of his ideas would have been nice.

True, Stegner may not be a professional historian, but it would have been nice to see him incorporate this.

To get an idea of what I mean by the end of this critique, please read Donald Worster's "River Running West." Also, Worster provides a bit of corrective to Stegner's occasional near-hagiographical approach to Powell.

I re-read this book and Powell's own "Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons" over the Holidays and have decided that these 2 books are absolutely inseparable. You must read both and I'm glad to see that Amazon offers a special deal for the purchase of these 2 books together. In my opinion, you should read Powell's "Exploration..." first and then read Stegner's book. Stegner's book is very readable but I hesitate to call it an easy read. While you are reading this book, you have to stop now and then to absorb and reflect on the opinions, actions, and counteractions of that particular moment. Everything must be placed in some historical, political, and personal context (3 dimensions which necessitate contemplation by the reader). Stegner does a wonderful job in maintaining the general flow of the text and he supplies an extensive listing of notes for those who want more information and detail. In my opinion, this is a wonderful book about a brilliant man with incredible foresight. Now, it seems that we need a beacon like Powell warning the Easterners about their relentless development of land with no thought or planning on the impact to their water resources and water quality. Most folks in the Eastern U.S. take their water resources for granted. We need a modern day Powell to warn us about the consequences of increased impervious area before its too late.

This is an excellent biography of John Wesley Powell--exlorer, geologist, scientist, writer, and politician.
Anyone who reads this is sure to increase the amount they know about this historic figure, and about the West in general as the stories of each are inextricably tangled. The book excels at its account of John Wesley Powell's life AFTER his famous trips down the Colorado River, and does a great job of describing Powell's role in the battle against over-populating the West.
If the book has faults though, they lie in that many of Stegner's sources have since been expounded upon or dismissed entirely, and so the facts in this book aren't entirely current. Also, Stegner dismisses too quickly the merits of the story of James White, a man who very possibly went down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon two years before Powell did.
And, it's kind of ridiculous how Stegner criticizes Powell's second expedition's photos as if they were famous works and art: This photo "is marred by too much nondescipt low-water beach in the foreground," and that sort of thing.
This is a great book for anyone interested in John Wesley Powell or the Colorado River. It's possibly Stegner's best nonfiction work, though "Mormon Country" is good as well.
For another great account of John Wesley Powell, read "Down the Great Unknown" by Edward Dolnick.
Or, for a half-decent book about Wallace Stegner's peculiarly white view of the American West, read, "'Why I Can't Read Wallace Stegner' and Other Essays" by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn. That one's kind of interesting.