Description: In May 1869, a one-armed Civil War veteran and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West: the fabled Grand Canyon. Drawing on rarely examined diaries and journals, this is the first book to tell the full, dramatic story of John Wesley Powell's expedition. 16-page photo insert. Maps and index.
Brief description:
Edward Dolnick is the author of Down the Great Unknown, The Forger's Spell, and the Edgar Award-winning The Rescue Artist. A former chief science writer at the Boston Globe, he lives with his wife near Washington, D.C.
Review Quotes:
"...as dramatic as the adversities Conan Doyle dreamed up for Professor Challenger in The Lost World....Dolnick keeps his narrative flowing like a strong current, pioneering in prose with much of one-armed Powell's own self-confidence." - -- The Times (London)
"Written with style and firsthand knowledge, Down the Great Unknown is terrifically readable. It flows steadily and relentlessly, like the great river itself, and will likely prove to be a lasting and worthy account of Powell's great adventure." - Bloomsbury Review
"[Down the Great Unknown] skillfully integrates the notes and journals of expedition members with technical insight about the perils of rolling whitewater....The expedition's embodiment of adventure and courage gives it a timelessness that Dolnick positively reinforces with well-detailed characterizations of the expedition members and their motivations and dissensions." - Booklist