A River Running West, The Life of John Wesley Powell, by Donald Worster

623 pages. Intrepid explorer, careful scientist, talented writer, and dedicated conservationist, John Wesley Powell led the expedition that put the Colorado River on American maps and revealed the Grand Canyon to the world. A River Running west is the first biogrphy of this towering figure in almost fifty years - a book that captures his life in all its herosim, idealism, and ambivalent, ambiguous humanity.