Beyond the Hundredth Meridian

John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West

By: Wallace Stegner

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner recounts the remarkable career of Major John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of the Southwest Indian tribes. This classic work is a penetrating and insightful study of the Powell’s career, from the beginning of the Powell Survey, in which Powell and his men famously became the first to descend the Colorado River, to his eventual expulsion from the Geological Survey.

In masterful prose, Stegner details the expedition, as well as the philosophies and ideas that drove Powell.

©1954 Wallace E. Stegner (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

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

“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.” ( Los Angeles Times)

“No library of western/southwestern materials can be without this book…” ( Books of the Southwest)

Love the writing

My best college buddy and I recently toured the lower half of Utah on a geocaching mission and she had read this so I decided to read it too. The descriptions of Utah are phenomenal. I love this quote regarding the new lands act..."the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest time." I could probably read it again and get a lot more from it--and these aren't the kinds of books I typically read.

Great history of the West

Not often talked about in the usual history of the West. Gives the listener an understanding of the varied works and adventures of Maj John Wesley Powell. A man who foresaw the future of the arid American West.

Excellent writer

Unfortunately an interesting story was overburdened by boring details and side stories and characters got lost or sidelined. Could not get through it.

Very good history of the west.

This a good history of the West, tho a bit dry the last few chapters.

Fascinating.

Fascinating history, written with the incisiveness and appreciation of the west that few people but Stengar can bring. And of course he is an exceptional writer. The reader is pleasant. Really perfect for this book.