Clarence Edward Dutton: An Appraisal

"A finger smashed in a car door and a missed geology examination at the University of Utah led Wallace Stegner to a special assignment about Clarence E. Dutton, thence to John Wesley Powell, and finally in 1954 to publication of what is arguably the single best nonfiction book dealing with the American West. Beyond the Hundredth Meridian remains in print fifty—two years after its initial appearance. Not many books have survived that length of time and thrived, despite competing works on the...