Dismissed by the first Spanish explorers as a wasteland; the Grand Canyon lay virtually unnoticed for three centuries until nineteenth- century America rediscovered it and seized it as a national emblem. This extraordinary work of intellectual and environmental history tells two tales of the Canyon: the discovery and exploration of the physical Canyon and the invention and evolution of the cultural Canyon--how we learned to endow it with mythic significance.Acclaimed historian Stephen Pyne examines the major shifts in Western attitudes toward nature; and recounts the achievements of explorers; geologists; artists; and writers; from John Wesley Powell to Wallace Stegner; and how they transformed the Canyon into a fixture of national identity. This groundbreaking book takes us on a completely original journey through the Canyon toward a new understanding of its niche in the American psyche; a journey that mirrors the making of the nation itself.
#125282 in Books 2003-06-24 2003-06-24Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.00 x .80 x 5.10l; .60 #File Name: 0140265740384 pages
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Well Balanced Between Readable and Informative. A Good and Engaging Place to Start Your JourneyBy Bay0WulfAs an informal researcher of Sumer; Ur Mesopotamia I have purchased and read several books on the subject. This is one of the better though it is not as thick or heavy as I would have thought. I could wish that I had started with this one as some of the others could have used a bit more ... preparation. While it is not a massive tome of dry information; it still imparts an awful lot of knowledge in a way that is easily readable and could be interesting to an interested high school student while still being quite useful to someone in a more collegiate setting.The manner in which the author has broken the various cities into "chapters" makes it easier to follow the information being laid down. As far as I can see she doesn't try to extrapolate information that doesn't seem to belong in the context. While she doesn't go into quite the depth that others do; she covers the topics quite throughly.I found that I could read this easily in bites and chunks and digest the chapter before moving onto the next one. Since each chapter is pretty much a history of one place over one general timespan; it makes it relatively easy to put a "pin" in the mental map of my mind.If you are looking for a very in-depth and scholarly work; this is probably not the best book although it is very good. If you are looking for a book that is easy to deal with and is quite comprehensive without being overly pedantic then I suggest that this is a great place to start.7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. A wonderfull partner to Paul Kriwaczeks BabylonBy CustomerI read this book after reading Paul Kriwaczeks Babylon:Mespotamia and the Birth of Civilisation - and I recommend reading in that order. This book provided infill and detail on each of layers of civilisation that ebbed and flowed across the region over 50 millenia. It certainly provided perspective and detail on some of the great builders of infrastructure - irrigation; temples; ziggaruts and agriculture products as well as the administration that managed and controlled operations across thousands of kilometers. A most enjoyable read.12 of 12 people found the following review helpful. Best short summary availableBy Brian K. MillerThe dawn of civilization has long been a dark mystery to everyone except a handful of scholars in dusty libraries and museum collection rooms. While endless material has been written and published about Egypt; Rome; and Greece; almost nothing has been available for the layman with an abiding interest in the very dawn of civilization: Sumer and Akkad. Gwendolyn Leick's book "Mesopotamia" has changed everything. This is far more complete; far more readable; and far more detailed than anything currently available on the market. If you are looking for one book with a complete; impartial view of how civilization began; then this is the book you're looking for!
