Rating: 
Summary: Down the Great Unknown with the Unknowing
Review: This is an exciting adventure story. The book describes the Powell Expedition's journey of exploration of the last unmapped area of the lower 48 -- the Colorado River and it's canyons (including the Grand Canyon).These century and more ago adventure stories always amaze me as a modern reader. Major Powell and his group knew nothing about the Colorado River or the canyons. They didn't know if game would be available, they didn't know if the river contained just rapids or huge water falls like the Niagra. They didn't know how to run river rapids -- all of the men were hardy outdoors types (some courtesy of the Civil War completed four years before their great adventure). None of the men were boatmen and none had ever run white water. Nevertheless, the intrepid Powell and his expedition started out on the Green River in present day Wyoming and followed it down through it's merger with the Colorado and through the Grand Canyon over the course of 100 days. Powell was driven by the adventurer's quest to leave his mark and a love of Geology and natural history. His crew were driven by nothing more than youthful adventurism and wages. Although they lost one boat, had much of their food spoiled, went weeks without killing any game and regularly climbed rocky canyon sides for vantage points, no men were lost as part of the expedition. Several later expeditions following in their wake had men drown, die from falls and exposure and generally suffered for their lack of experience, planning and knowledge. Powell was an enthusiastic leader -- and lucky. He had also left an arm in Tennessee courtesy of Confederate gunnery during the Battle of Shiloh. Powell endured his wilderness trip with one arm and -- this is incredible -- usually was one of his party who ascended canyon sides to take readings or scout the coming river conditions. There is an unbelievable story in the book of Powell being trapped on the side of a cliff, hanging on by one hand. His man above had to pull him up. With no rope, he had to take off his union suit, dangle it behind Powell and have Powell let go of the cliff in order to grab the lifeline and be pulled to safety. The book has many thrilling vignettes like the one above. Their trip was hard work. About a third of the rapids encountered were portaged or lined instead of run. Portage was hard work -- unloading all the supplies, carrying them around the rapid, carrying the boats (made of heavy oak) around the rapids -- over rock and w/o shoes near the end of the trip. Lining was also hard, boats were let out through the rapid with rope and jumped around vantage points in order to get them safely through. But many rapids were run - some without adequate knowledge of what was in store, some because many parts of the canyons through which they traveled had no side landings over which to portage or line. That these backward rowing men in boats designed to runabout placid harbors were not dashed to pieces and drowned ten times during their journey is amazing. It also makes for a heck of a good story. The writing is good. The author makes much use of Powell's classic book on the trip -- as well as his river notes, and the journals of several other participants who have survived. The descriptions and story telling give as good of a "you are there" feel as a book can. He also cuts away at times to modern river runners to give an appreciation of how certain famous rapids look to people who run them for a living. This and dashes of geology and brief histories add a nice balance to the book. It is amazing how these adventurers were willing to go blindly into "the great unknown." They stared death in the face and defeated it by a combination of luck, pluck and determination. A good book for armchair adventurers.
Rating:
Summary: Down the Great Unknown with the Unknowing
Review: This is an exciting adventure story. The book describes the Powell Expedition's journey of exploration of the last unmapped area of the lower 48 -- the Colorado River and it's canyons (including the Grand Canyon). These century and more ago adventure stories always amaze me as a modern reader. Major Powell and his group knew nothing about the Colorado River or the canyons. They didn't know if game would be available, they didn't know if the river contained just rapids or huge water falls like the Niagra. They didn't know how to run river rapids -- all of the men were hardy outdoors types (some courtesy of the Civil War completed four years before their great adventure). None of the men were boatmen and none had ever run white water. Nevertheless, the intrepid Powell and his expedition started out on the Green River in present day Wyoming and followed it down through it's merger with the Colorado and through the Grand Canyon over the course of 100 days. Powell was driven by the adventurer's quest to leave his mark and a love of Geology and natural history. His crew were driven by nothing more than youthful adventurism and wages. Although they lost one boat, had much of their food spoiled, went weeks without killing any game and regularly climbed rocky canyon sides for vantage points, no men were lost as part of the expedition. Several later expeditions following in their wake had men drown, die from falls and exposure and generally suffered for their lack of experience, planning and knowledge. Powell was an enthusiastic leader -- and lucky. He had also left an arm in Tennessee courtesy of Confederate gunnery during the Battle of Shiloh. Powell endured his wilderness trip with one arm and -- this is incredible -- usually was one of his party who ascended canyon sides to take readings or scout the coming river conditions. There is an unbelievable story in the book of Powell being trapped on the side of a cliff, hanging on by one hand. His man above had to pull him up. With no rope, he had to take off his union suit, dangle it behind Powell and have Powell let go of the cliff in order to grab the lifeline and be pulled to safety. The book has many thrilling vignettes like the one above. Their trip was hard work. About a third of the rapids encountered were portaged or lined instead of run. Portage was hard work -- unloading all the supplies, carrying them around the rapid, carrying the boats (made of heavy oak) around the rapids -- over rock and w/o shoes near the end of the trip. Lining was also hard, boats were let out through the rapid with rope and jumped around vantage points in order to get them safely through. But many rapids were run - some without adequate knowledge of what was in store, some because many parts of the canyons through which they traveled had no side landings over which to portage or line. That these backward rowing men in boats designed to runabout placid harbors were not dashed to pieces and drowned ten times during their journey is amazing. It also makes for a heck of a good story. The writing is good. The author makes much use of Powell's classic book on the trip -- as well as his river notes, and the journals of several other participants who have survived. The descriptions and story telling give as good of a "you are there" feel as a book can. He also cuts away at times to modern river runners to give an appreciation of how certain famous rapids look to people who run them for a living. This and dashes of geology and brief histories add a nice balance to the book. It is amazing how these adventurers were willing to go blindly into "the great unknown." They stared death in the face and defeated it by a combination of luck, pluck and determination. A good book for armchair adventurers.
Rating: 
Summary: The real story of Powell's trip through the Grand Canyon
Review: This was a fantastic book. I read Powell's "Exploration of the Colorado" almost 50 years ago and was so excited about it that I bought a boat, tried to replicate his trip, almost drowned and spent 10 days nearly starving in Cataract Canyon. If I had read Dolnick's book instead of Powell's romanticized, much abbreviated account, I would have been much more cautious. Powell's book is still one of the great books in American history, but until I read Dolnick's book I really didn't know what went on. It was like revisiting the trip all over again, and was, if this is possible, even more exciting. There's only a book or two each year that I recommend to my friends and this is definitely one. Also, to any river runners out there who think this is just a rehash of Powell's trip - it's much, much more.
Rating:
Summary: The real story of Powell's trip through the Grand Canyon
Review: This was a fantastic book. I read Powell's "Exploration of the Colorado" almost 50 years ago and was so excited about it that I bought a boat, tried to replicate his trip, almost drowned and spent 10 days nearly starving in Cataract Canyon. If I had read Dolnick's book instead of Powell's romanticized, much abbreviated account, I would have been much more cautious. Powell's book is still one of the great books in American history, but until I read Dolnick's book I really didn't know what went on. It was like revisiting the trip all over again, and was, if this is possible, even more exciting. There's only a book or two each year that I recommend to my friends and this is definitely one. Also, to any river runners out there who think this is just a rehash of Powell's trip - it's much, much more.
Rating:
Summary: The real story of Powell's trip through the Grand Canyon
Review: This was a fantastic book. I read Powell's "Exploration of the Colorado" almost 50 years ago and was so excited about it that I bought a boat, tried to replicate his trip, almost drowned and spent 10 days nearly starving in Cataract Canyon. If I had read Dolnick's book instead of Powell's romanticized, much abbreviated account, I would have been much more cautious. Powell's book is still one of the great books in American history, but until I read Dolnick's book I really didn't know what went on. It was like revisiting the trip all over again, and was, if this is possible, even more exciting. There's only a book or two each year that I recommend to my friends and this is definitely one. Also, to any river runners out there who think this is just a rehash of Powell's trip - it's much, much more.
Rating:
Summary: A New Perspective on The Colorado River Exploring Expedition
Review: Using his background as a journalist, Dolnick, hot on a story over one hundred and thirty years old, breathes new life into the story of John Wesley Powell by focusing his pen almost exclusively on the perils of the Colorado River Exploring Expedition. Dolnick, as the review mentions, is free of pedantry and conveys Powell's trip as if to a buddy encamped on the shores of the Colorado. He purposefully sucks the reader into the reality of the canyons with witticisms such as the one describing Powell's choice of Whitehall boats for the expedition, "now he [Powell] was headed into a fire wearing a gasoline suit." In this respect, Dolnick successfully creates a bridge for the reader between the 21st and 19th centuries, which vividly enliven an important American historical event.
Should one wish to learn a great deal about the life of John Wesley Powell, this is not the book. This is the Patton or Spirit of St. Louis, of books, not the Gandhi or Citizen Kane. The lens is centered on a specific event that shaped a man as much as it shaped a nation, and with this perspective, it succeeds.
Interestingly, and through no fault of Dolnick's, the book inherits and conveys upon the reader certain undesirable characteristics of its subject matter as the book progresses. Repetition sets in as the men scuttle canyon after canyon with no end in sight. As their bodies grow wan from lack of food, so their powers for description wane. The reader is drawn into their misery and desperation of the watery marathon and reads all the faster to escape with the expedition. As contradictory as it may seem, it is a credit to the writer and a testament to the men that last few chapters become increasingly difficult due to this reflexive, involuntary, empathetic reader response.
Three negative points, if minor, regarding Dolnick's work: He fails to discuss the Rainbow Bridge near Glen Canyon, only one of the most incredible rock formations in all of North America, if not the world. In his notes, Dolnick claims to have stuck closely to the accounts of the men's journals, so is it possible, however unlikely, that none mentioned this glorious natural wonder?
Secondly, Dolnick claims the bodies of the Howlands and Dunns "have never been found." According to historian Donald Worster, there is strong circumstantial evidence to the contrary. In fact, Worster's work, A River Running West: The Life Of John Wesley Powell, refers to correspondence involving Major Powell, which states as much. To be fair, however, Dolnick's research was not centered on post-expedition history.
Finally, Dolnick's notes are inconveniently placed at the back of the book and arranged in such a manner as to make it terribly difficult to follow while reading. It is, however, a minor subtraction from an otherwise excellent historical narrative.
Rating:
Summary: TERRIFIC BOOK!
Review: What a gem! I've never been near the Grand Canyon but I was completely swept up in this adventure story about a hapless crew venturing into the unknown. I think what drew me in was the way Dolnick tells the story: the tone is full of humor and yet completely informative. He gives us quirky characters (who bicker as they make history)and a vivid portrait of post-Civil War America. In light of Sept. 11, the book seems even more important: it's about heroes who lived with the anxiety of never knowing what danger lay beyond the next bend of the river.
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