The Great Divide: The Rocky Mountains in the American Mind

by Ferguson, Gary

• ISBN13: 9780393050721
• ISBN10: 0393050726
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc

Summary

A rich natural and cultural history of the Rocky Mountains and their place in the American imagination. For most of our nation's history, Americans have identified with the "purple mountain majesties" of the Rockies. Trappers and debutantes, miners and missionaries, artists and drinkers, escaped slaves, independent women abandoning hoopskirts, and assorted black sheep of respectable families have all sought refuge and inspiration there. This spectacular landscape has always offered a sense of freedom from crowds and conformitya world, as Frederic Remington described it, "beyond derby hats and mortgages bearing eight percent." Gary Ferguson spins magnificent tales about the vivid characters who have peopled this majestic region, from the original Indian inhabitants and their interactions with European explorers, to the delirious victims of gold rush fever, to hippies in the Sixties, to today's adventure travelers in high-tech outerwear toting satellite phones into the wild. Throughout, he explores the ebbs and flows of America's attitude toward the vast expanses that embody our sense of freedom.

Author Biography

Gary Ferguson's nature articles have appeared in dozens of national magazines, and he lectures regularly on wilderness and conservation issues. A longtime Rocky Mountain resident naturalist, he lives in Montana

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	11	(4)
INTRODUCTION	15	(14)
CHAPTER ONE: Fire, Ice, and a Humorless God	29	(28)
CHAPTER TWO: The Rise of the Mountain Man	57	(26)
CHAPTER THREE: A Faith Moved by Mountains	83	(16)
CHAPTER FOUR: Slow and Restless, Revengeful and Fond of War	99	(20)
CHAPTER FIVE: Lords, Farmers, and Other Tourists	119	(26)
CHAPTER SIX: Preachers with Paintbrushes	145	(20)
CHAPTER SEVEN:A Monaco Gambling Room in a Colorado Spruce Clearing	165	(28)
CHAPTER EIGHT: The Coming of the Dudes	193	(32)
CHAPTER NINE: Season of the Freaks	225	(20)
CHAPTER TEN: The Morning After	245	(16)
NOTES ON SOURCES	261	(10)
PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS	271	(2)
INDEX	273