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Four Corners: History, Land, and People of the Desert Southwest – Masterful Nature Writing Exploring Geological Wonders and Ancient Anasazi Pueblos
In this masterful tour de force of nature writing, Kenneth Brown explores one of the most awe-inspiring regions on earth -- the Four Corners of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Weaving together its geological, ecological and human histories, he presents a unique portrait of this ruggedly beautiful landscape that goes beyond mere description to give readers a true sense of the land in all its richness. Here are rock croppings that are 2 billion years old and broad desert valleys where rivers of lava cooled to form floors of solid rock. Here ancient hunter-gatherers stalked the woolly mammoth, four-story pueblos were carved by the Anasazi from sheer stone cliffs and an ancient midnight Holy Week ceremony is still practiced in a modern Spanish village. Providing a fresh perspective on a region currently enjoying an upwelling of interest, Four Corners is a fascinating study of one of the world's great wonders -- compelling reading for all science, nature, anthropology and travel aficionados.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 16, 2017
Four Corners: Infinite Perspectives
The geology, the ecology, the human history of the Four Corners area, the Colorado Plateau surrounding the intersection point of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, is infinitely interesting. It teaches us that if we dig deep, we can learn so much about our whole world and how generations of peoples have interacted with it from a one single place. In “Four Corners,” Kenneth Brown attempts to give a sweeping perspective. He discusses:
- the extraordinary geology of the Grand Staircase that begins at the Grand Canyon and ends at Bryce Canyon. This is the land that defined our modern knowledge of geology as the Earth’s history. It is literally the textbook definition of how land is created and evolves.
- the life and times of the Ancestral Puebloans people who created the magnificent cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde and around the Four Corners area (until recently this group was called the Anasazi, meaning ancient enemy in Navajo which isn’t very nice). Why did these folks build such elaborate houses into the slides sides of mountains around 1200, abandon them in 1300, and never return? This is a great mystery of the America that we should all know about.
- the Spanish who came later, then the American explorers like John Wesley Powell, the Navajo who were so adroit at mastering new skills like ranching and farming
- the Mormons who made the desert bloom
- the U.S. government who created the greatest national parks and giant dams and power plants
Overall, I learned that the Four Corners area is super fascinating, and I want to explore more by reading other books (Cadillac Desert about water in the Southwest, The Gathering of Zion about the Mormons, Code Talkers about the Navajo). By the way, I highly recommend reading Desert Solitaire, which is quoted at numerous times in this book.
However, the narrative of this book is draining. Brown jumps from topic to topic with such speed such that it’s hard to put things into perspective. His many visits to speak with some local researcher or resident or his views during some backpacking or canoeing trip come out of nowhere. One minute, there will be a textbook-dense paragraph about a Pinyon-Juniper forest and the next he’ll be giving the backstory and resume of some park ranger or scientist that we then never hear from again.
There are many classics that help us better understand the Four Corners. This is not one of them.
The geology, the ecology, the human history of the Four Corners area, the Colorado Plateau surrounding the intersection point of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, is infinitely interesting. It teaches us that if we dig deep, we can learn so much about our whole world and how generations of peoples have interacted with it from a one single place. In “Four Corners,” Kenneth Brown attempts to give a sweeping perspective. He discusses:
- the extraordinary geology of the Grand Staircase that begins at the Grand Canyon and ends at Bryce Canyon. This is the land that defined our modern knowledge of geology as the Earth’s history. It is literally the textbook definition of how land is created and evolves.
- the life and times of the Ancestral Puebloans people who created the magnificent cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde and around the Four Corners area (until recently this group was called the Anasazi, meaning ancient enemy in Navajo which isn’t very nice). Why did these folks build such elaborate houses into the slides sides of mountains around 1200, abandon them in 1300, and never return? This is a great mystery of the America that we should all know about.
- the Spanish who came later, then the American explorers like John Wesley Powell, the Navajo who were so adroit at mastering new skills like ranching and farming
- the Mormons who made the desert bloom
- the U.S. government who created the greatest national parks and giant dams and power plants
Overall, I learned that the Four Corners area is super fascinating, and I want to explore more by reading other books (Cadillac Desert about water in the Southwest, The Gathering of Zion about the Mormons, Code Talkers about the Navajo). By the way, I highly recommend reading Desert Solitaire, which is quoted at numerous times in this book.
However, the narrative of this book is draining. Brown jumps from topic to topic with such speed such that it’s hard to put things into perspective. His many visits to speak with some local researcher or resident or his views during some backpacking or canoeing trip come out of nowhere. One minute, there will be a textbook-dense paragraph about a Pinyon-Juniper forest and the next he’ll be giving the backstory and resume of some park ranger or scientist that we then never hear from again.
There are many classics that help us better understand the Four Corners. This is not one of them.
February 21, 2022
One of the most structured books that I have ever read. Brown moves somewhere between an account of his experiences in the area and fantastic descriptions of the natural history of the Four Corners. I found the description of the Grand Staircase especially easy to comprehend given the complexity of the geological record. He also covers the human history in a sort of overview fashion, but it provides an excellent background for further reading.
August 26, 2016
An interesting book, but ... the handful of black and white photographs in the center of the book didn't help much. It would've been a better, more easily appreciated book if there had been diagrams and maps interspersed through the text. Just too hard to remember all the geography, even with the help of the single map at the beginning.
May 27, 2013
Good background.
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October 20, 2017beautifully organized book. enjoyed the environmental overviews of each region
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews