How the Canyon Became Grand: A Short History

Rating:
Summary: broad world view
Review: Pyne puts the Grand Canyon in the context of world history with numerous references to the "First, Second, and Third Ages Of Discovery", the first represented by Coronado, the second represented by Powell, the third represented by space exploration, and with numerous references to geology, (somewhat surprisingly) to art, and to nature writing. This book details the extensive geologic exploration of the canyon in the late 1800's, the art it produced, and the effects of European trends in art on the Canyon art, and the changing view of the canyon as a result of space exploration and environmentalism. A lucid and compelling work.

Rating:
Summary: Intellectual history
Review: The biggest drawback of this book is its sometimes florid prose which detracts from the history itself. The Grand Canyon is such a great American cliche that reading about it seems trite, but Pyne manages to breathe quite a lot of life into it. He attempts to bring all of European intellectual history to bear on the history of the Canyon. He describes 3 Ages of Exploration and the principal ideas and explorers of each--he describes in some detail the burgeoning geologic knowledge of the late 1800's and devotes as much space to the human representation of the Canyon in art, relating Canyon art to European art movements. He describes the advent of commercialism, of the ecology movement and its principal spokespersons, and of the Canyon in music. He describes how the 3rd Great Age of Exploration--space exploration--has resulted in the canyon being reduced in geologic importance because of the advent of new theories of planetary history, discovered through plate tectonics and impact craters.

Rating:
Summary: Great intellectual history
Review: This book is a great intellectual history of a subject that tends to be considered so trite as to be mundane. In the course of the 20th Century the wonders of the Grand Canyon have been so often noted that they have become a cliche of commercialism. Pyne takes us back to the Spanish explorers and helps us to understand why their intellectual powers were inadequate to interpret the meaning of the Canyon when they first encountered it. Pyne describes 3 great ages of exploration, and devotes considerable space to the explanation of the geology of the canyon, first discovered in the late 1800's by John Wesley Powell and his associates. He also makes frequent reference to the human representation of the Canyon in art; he considers this, it would appear, to be as significant as its geology. He relates this art to the modernistic movements in Europe. He describes the advent of commercialism and of the ecology movement by men like Joseph Wood Krutch, who wanted the Canyon maintained in its pristine state for the enjoyment of all. He describes how the Canyon has become less important in scientific circles with the advent of the theory of plate tectonics and of crater impact zones, of space exploration.

Rating:
Summary: Turgid and virtually impossible to read.
Review: This is the second book of Stephen Pyne's that I have labored through. Living and working at the bottom of the Grand Canyon for ten years I have read many titles that concern itself with the area. This reads just as it was created, a college thesis. I am sorry that Mr. Pyne bemoans the lack of intellectual approaches to interpreting the Grand Canyon. But this gets a bit stuffy if not pompous as I turned the pages. To call Zane Grey a literary hack is a bit of a stretch to say the least. As I gazed out my window last week to one magnificent snowstorm I was reminded how Mr. Pyne had written that Thomas Moran exaggerated the mists of the Canyon. I think not. It's on the shelf and over now. The subtitle is what salvaged the book for me - a SHORT history.

Rating:
Summary: Academic tedium
Review: This is the second book of Stephen Pyne's that I have labored through. Living and working at the bottom of the Grand Canyon for ten years I have read many titles that concern itself with the area. This reads just as it was created, a college thesis. I am sorry that Mr. Pyne bemoans the lack of intellectual approaches to interpreting the Grand Canyon. But this gets a bit stuffy if not pompous as I turned the pages. To call Zane Grey a literary hack is a bit of a stretch to say the least. As I gazed out my window last week to one magnificent snowstorm I was reminded how Mr. Pyne had written that Thomas Moran exaggerated the mists of the Canyon. I think not. It's on the shelf and over now. The subtitle is what salvaged the book for me - a SHORT history.