Prescient
5 stars
Long, and in parts too detailed, perhaps. But the drama of Powell's career is compelling, and the story of the American West that Stegner traces to the middle of the 20th century is even more compelling as, faced with the existential challenge of climate change, we are confronted with the same reactionary forces of greed and ignorance that confronted—and, in his lifetime, at least, defeated—John Wesley Powell. The difference, of course, is that for us, such a temporary setback threatens to be permanent.
Long, and in parts too detailed, perhaps. But the drama of Powell's career is compelling, and the story of the American West that Stegner traces to the middle of the 20th century is even more compelling as, faced with the existential challenge of climate change, we are confronted with the same reactionary forces of greed and ignorance that confronted—and, in his lifetime, at least, defeated—John Wesley Powell. The difference, of course, is that for us, such a temporary setback threatens to be permanent.