Tahoe Beneath the Surface: The Hidden Stories of America’s Largest Mountain Lake

by Scott Lankford

Lake Tahoe transformed America, and not just once but many times over—from the earliest Ice Age civilizations to the mysterious death of Marilyn Monroe. It even played a hidden role in the American conquest of California, the launch of the Republican Party, and the birth of John Steinbeck's first novel. Along the way, Lake Tahoe found the time to invent the ski industry, spark the sexual revolution, and win countless Academy Awards. Tahoe beneath the Surface brings this hidden history of America's largest mountain lake to life through the stories of its most celebrated residents and visitors over the last ten thousand years. It mixes local Washoe Indian legends with tales of murderous Mafia dons, and Rat Pack tunes with Steinbeck novels. It establishes Tahoe as one of America's literary hot spots by tracing the steps of more than a dozen authors including Bertrand Russell, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Michael Ondaatje. Tahoe beneath the Surface reveals how the lake transformed the lives of conservationists like John Muir, humorists like Mark Twain, and Hollywood icons like Frank Sinatra. It even touches upon some of the darker aspects of American history, including anti-Chinese racism and the Kennedy assassination. Despite the impact Lake Tahoe has had on America, environmental threats loom large, and Tahoe Blue—a term that Lankford uses to encompass the whole range of life, beauty, and meaning the lake represents—grows increasingly vulnerable. In Tahoe beneath the Surface , human history and natural history combine in a most engaging way, one that will both inform and inspire all who would keep Tahoe blue.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Nature, Travel

280 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is cursed with obscure synonyms, the use of inverted sentence structure, and every other writing style that can be applied to make simplicity seem complicated and unfathomable. A Pulitzer Prize for circumvention, exaggeration, and wild extrapolation must be the writer’s target. Besides making the book almost unreadable, there is an array of schizophrenic subjects laced demogagary and radical environmental human defacing rhetoric.
Chapter one is named Jacques Cousteau and while actually mentioning that Jacques did indeed have interaction with Lake Tahoe, there were only a couple of fictional non-meaningful sentences devoted to Jacques.
This book is meant for people who wish to feel intellectually superior while feeling insignificant to the universe that has been devastated by the mere existence of humans.
Perhaps my harshness is based on my own desire to read a book that tells interesting stories and history of an incredible place while ignoring all the above mentioned distractions and waste of word. OK, a pretty strong condemnation of writer and style, but then I could not get past page 10 no matter how much the supposed content is of interest to me. When I next have a moment of boredom, I will attempt to wade through another 10 pages in the hopes of actually finding “content”.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book!! What is missing are notes, references, index, something where all this great information can be looked up and delve deeper. Since Lake Tahoe is in my backyard I really enjoyed the stories from this area.

I believe the author presented different sides of some of the story, although the tales of Cal/Neva with Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe do not have a set of hard facts. He apparently waded through volumes of information and gleaned a tale that may be true, but without all the references it makes it more difficult to verify. I will give him that he does list book titles often throughout the text, and there is a very short section in the acknowledgements where he lists some very useful titles of books he read.

Okay, so I'm going on about that, but this is a great book to read about the area. Lots of fascinating folks have lived here - from Sarah Winnemucca to Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain (his time here was when he changed his name), to John Steinbeck and Bertrand Russell. Great writing style as well. I borrowed the book from the library and now think I should buy a copy. It's a book I'd read again.

[Tom Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out as a good source for information on the history of the Tahoe Region, but every chapter got preachier and preachier about the treatment of the Native Americans. Very redundant and certainly not an unbiased source of information. A separate chapter would have been more appropriate and less tiresome. I tossed the book half way through.

[Lea · Rating 2 out of 5]

For some reason, maybe the cover art, I thought this would be a natural history and geology book. It’s not. It’s a white guy who came to Lake Tahoe, writing about other white guys who have any sort of remote connection to Lake Tahoe. Throw in some Indigenous stories and a giant geographic region the author linked to Tahoe in his mind and you have this book. It’s not even that well written. He claims it’s his Stanford dissertation translated into English and I think that sums up everything you need to know.

[Annamarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot of really great information in this book, including stories and histories of various time periods in Tahoe. This book is incredibly verbose, which makes it drag quite a bit. There are also several chapters that are not really related to Tahoe, but more a history of the surrounding Sierras. I found several chapters interesting and appreciated the new views and details presented.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This breaks my heart to add to my DNF list - Because it wasn’t that I didn’t want to finish it, it’s just that I can’t!!! This book is filled with heavy, deep things. Things that can’t be powered through and noted as “Read”. This book needs to be purchased (my copy was through the library) and highlighted and notated and read through slowly. And, that’s what I intend to do. I wont put a limit on this book and it’s ridiculous to try - so I’ll return it to the library and buy my copy to peruse at my own pace. <3

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly quick read where the author takes the reader from prehistoric times to the present through a variety of characters and events related to Lake Tahoe. Stories relating to Donner Pass, Twain, Steinbeck, Muir, Fremont, etc. tell the tale of Lake Tahoe. Each chapter begins with a map highlighting different areas around Lake Tahoe - which is helpful. The author's love for Lake Tahoe comes through on most of the pages - sometimes too much. All in all, a good read for anyone interested in or heading to Lake Tahoe.

[Kathleen Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another Summer read and Tahoe is 2 hours from our home in Yuba City. We love the west shore of Tahoe and after reading this book, I have a much better understanding of some of the local history of the Tahoe area. Very interesting read and it answers many questions I had about Tahoe history.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve read in the last few years. I’m so surprised by the reviews. The language and the subtle humor imbedded in the stories is exceptional. The clear-headed call outs of the various harm-inflicted was done really tastefully. If you like to read, and like to read nonfiction, this book is for you. 5/5.

[Waxwing · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of information in here that many locals and guests might rather not know. That makes the histories introduced here that much more important to learn about. Engaging and eye-opening, a good place to start about our less pretty history.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved many parts of this. And particularly enjoy having read it while in the sierras. But at times it was a little too laudatory of old Twain. And the puns were a little bit of groaners. But a good look at the area and its storytellers.

[D Sandborn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another couple revisions might have fixed the litany of factual errors, mixed metaphors, poor analogies, misued figures of speech, and general abuses of English that would have made Mark Twain blush.

[Alexis(Andra) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terrible. Held promise at the start .

[Lindsay Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful information about Tahoe that I had never known!

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good tidbits of information presented in a fairly cloying format that grasps to raise the importance of the areas surrounding lake Tahoe.

[Maxwell T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and readable, but some places where author reaches.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a series of vivid, immensely entertaining essays, Scott Lankford reveals the extraordinary history of Lake Tahoe, from very ancient times to the present, encompassing many facets of American history, literature, and environmental issues in the process.

[Kkraemer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is something between a tourist brochure and an actual literary nonfiction. It has chapters on many famous people who have lived and worked in the Tahoe basin (Steinbeck, Twain, Sinatra) and some of the famous incidents of the area (the Donner Party, the Chinese who built the Railroad). It also includes some English-major type of essays about writers (the best being the compare/contrast essay that looks at the work of Michael Ondaatje and Gary Snyder).

This seems like a book by an academic who's trying to write for a "general" audience. It would be a great series of lectures in a community college history class.

[Dale · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Mr. Lankford's stories were interesting, I felt he was writing with a biased outlook and possibly a political agenda instead of just writing a series of historical anecdotes. I kept getting the sense that this college professor leans to the left on social issues to the point that it gets in the way of the actual information he is trying to convey.

I also found his over abundant use of quotes to be a distraction from the stories. Overall, I was disappointed in the book, especially since, being a native daughter of the Golden West, and a life-long camper in the Truckee-Donner Summit-Tahoe area, I was looking forward to a much more historical book.

[Menthink · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in learning some stories ,you've never heard before,surrounding Lake Tahoe you'll find this book a good read. You will need to get past some of how the universe revolves around Tahoe moments. Otherwise, it is entertaining and informative, covering topics from ancient native culture to Kennedy/Monroe trysts at Cal-Neva. Each chapter covers a different story, so this can easily be picked up and put down again by chapter, but I found myself plowing right through it.

[Kerstin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of factoids and stories about Lake Tahoe...though the author seems to think Tahoe played a critical role in every major event in American history post 1830....Frank Sinatra plotting to assassinate JFK at Cal-Neva? Anti-Union politicians holding clandestine meetings to fundraise for the Confederates? Hmmm...

[Astrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't really finish it. But I read all the bits I was interested in - 95% of it. It's good for anyone looking for a general overview of Lake Tahoe's history, especially its literary history. Lankford is a sympathetic writer, always acknowledging most sides of the story in each chapter.
Also good to find sources if one's interest is caught. I know mine was.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rather... Great information, suspenseful storytelling of history. A few too many sweeping generalizations and overwrought sentences (agree with another reviewer regarding adjectives). BUT, a quick read and entertaining nonfiction for Tahoe-lovers!

[Tiffany Walker pogue · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the book provides some snippets of lake history I felt like it left out quite a lot of the back stories. If you don't know anything about the lake or its history I don't recommend it. However if you already know quite a bit, then this will be a quick and somewhat interesting read.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt the title and description didn't match with the book's theme. Didn't finish. Great cover though. Probably will donate.

[Christine]

Anyone who loves Tahoe will love this book!

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. Tahoe in its early days. Twain & Steinbeck at lakeside. Amazing stories about the early days of westerners around the lake but hard to shake from my mind the harrowing treatment of Native Americans who were there. Have to read it because we have to know it.