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| Most people know Maj. John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) as the courageous, one-armed, Civil War veteran who rafted down the Green and Colorado Rivers and through the Grand Canyon in 1869. This amazing feat is just one of Powell's legacies, as Ross's (Enduring Courage) new biography describes Powell's talents in ethnography, geology, surveying, and mapping, along with his political acuity that helped shape America's federal science and Western land stewardship. One of Powell's many strengths was in logistical planning and organization, skills he learned in the army and later applied on various expeditions, in testimony before Congressional committees and when launching new government agencies, such as the Smithsonian's Bureau of -Ethnology and the U.S. Geological Survey. In masterly use of primary and secondary sources, Ross makes Powell's wrangling with senators as fascinating as his river expeditions. Powell advocated for the local control of Western water rights to ensure population growth and settlement was sustainable, yet these ideas were ignored by Congress. VERDICT If you've ever used a topographic map, thank Powell. His legacy deserves more attention, and Ross's biography stands to correct this. For all readers, especially lovers of science, history, and adventure.-Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Lib., IN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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| This enthralling tale by adventure writer Ross (Enduring Courage) focuses on the life of John Wesley Powell (1834-1902), an explorer, geologist, and early proponent of environmental sustainability. Ross portrays Powell as a practical visionary who challenged the status quo of the Gilded Age by encouraging people to "listen not only to their heart, pocketbook, and deep aspirations, but what the land itself and the climate would tell them." His early life in the Midwest as a boy working on the family farm and as a schoolteacher and budding naturalist shaped his ideas about the environment. Ross displays a flair for adventure writing as he recounts Powell's service with the Union Army during the Civil War (which cost him half an arm) and subsequent work on geological surveys of the West, and he renders Powell's 1869 expedition of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon in breathtaking detail. That trip convinced Powell that water was the key to development in the West and led to his career in the federal government, where he fought for his vision of land and water management. Ross demonstrates a facility for both human history and natural history, clearly showing why Powell's ideas matter today. Illus. Agent: Stuart Krichevsky, Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. |
