First Through Grand Canyon: the secret journals & letters of the 1869 crew who explored the Green & Colorado rivers

Rating:
Summary: The only book to read on Powell's journey
Review: This book by Michael Ghiglieri is an outstanading documentary of the first exploration of the Grand Canyon by John Wesley Powell and his crew. While almost every other account of this amazing journey is based on Powell's journal and notes, Michael very carefully pulls together all the accounts of this trip using not only Powell's notes but also the journals of the crew, letters and other doucments not previously published. His book is well researched and very effectively debunks a number of misconceptions about Powell, his leadership skills, how and why the 3 members of his trip were killed (hint: it was NOT the Indians)and the contributions and skills of his crew.

Michael not only publishes word for word all the journals that survived, but also did an impressive amount of original research into the events that made up this exploration. He then uses his background as a professional river guide to pull it together into a very compelling and hard-to-put down tale of this fateful journey. This is must read for anyone interested in the real facts of this incredible adventure.

Rating:
Summary: The only book to read on Powell's journey
Review: This book by Michael Ghiglieri is an outstanading documentary of the first exploration of the Grand Canyon by John Wesley Powell and his crew. While almost every other account of this amazing journey is based on Powell's journal and notes, Michael very carefully pulls together all the accounts of this trip using not only Powell's notes but also the journals of the crew, letters and other doucments not previously published. His book is well researched and very effectively debunks a number of misconceptions about Powell, his leadership skills, how and why the 3 members of his trip were killed (hint: it was NOT the Indians)and the contributions and skills of his crew.

Michael not only publishes word for word all the journals that survived, but also did an impressive amount of original research into the events that made up this exploration. He then uses his background as a professional river guide to pull it together into a very compelling and hard-to-put down tale of this fateful journey. This is must read for anyone interested in the real facts of this incredible adventure.