Down the Great Unknown

I’ve read several books about the Powell expedition down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon, and this is my favorite. Dolnick brings in the journal writings (mercifully without the poor spelling that they must contain) of other members of the expedition, and this gives a more nuanced account of the events than just reading Powell’s after-the-fact narrative from his own sparse notes. Lots of grumbling going on. A lot of these journal quotes sound like vintage Mark Twain, e.g., “We broke many oars and most of the Ten Commandments.” Dolnick’s discussions of the geology are good, and he… show more.

This book covers the most famous canoe trip of them all: John Wesley Powell's courageous exploration through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. No one knew what the Grand Canyon was like; no one had ever run it, and no one even knew where it ended. What I particularly liked about the book is the way it is written, a genuine thriller, and as a reader, I am right there in the boats with Powell and his small crew, most of whom had never been in a boat before…to say nothing of the most dangerous water in America. Another… show more.

You can’t make a list like this one and ignore John Wesley Powell, the one-armed geologist-explorer credited with the first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

My beef with this man is that he was a grandiose (if not untalented) writer. He fudged the truth, conflating accounts of two trips into one. Important to a guide, he could be an overbearing leader. This book puts him on the page, warts and all, and puts you right there with him and his crew—moldy bacon, capsized boats, and thunderstorms included.

In this way, as through the canyon’s geological wonders… show more.

I loved River of Doubt, and this book about a grand misadventure down the Grand Canyon kept me just as transfixed.

Soon after the U.S. Civil War, one man’s yearning to explore produced so much hardship for himself and the men he brought with him. I like to read about tests of will and the struggle to survive, though reading about this adventure did not make me want to join them. It was more than enough just to feel like I was in those unwieldy, wooden canoes being battered by rapids and smashed against the rocks.

But in these… show more.