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

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1954. First Edition. 438pp. Octavo [22 cm] Tan cloth with the title gilt stamped on the front board and backstrip. Very good/Near fine. Short closed tear to jacket's front panel with gentle rubbing to corners. Point Sublime fold-out panorama present and in nice condition. Map endsheets and pastedowns. Stegner's excellent biography of Powell, and his explorations of the Colorado River and the Colorado Plateau. Stegner points out the significance of Powell's thinking and writing on the problems of settlement of the arid lands of the West. The problem overcoming the denial of reality by people like William Gilpin, Captain Samuel Adams, and several members of Congress is an important part of the book. Stegner highlights the political maneuvering that was necessary for Powell to move his ideas forward when he was working as head of both the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Ethnology. A nice copy of this classic work. Ford 65. Colberg A13 1.a.

Wallace Earle Stegner (1909-1993) was an American novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and historian, often called 'The Dean of Western Writers'. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book Award in 1977, and through his writing program at Stanford University, influenced generations of writers (Edward Abbey, Ken Kesey, Wendell Berry, Larry McMurtry).