Alumni Travel Reading: Southwest National Parks of America

In 1869 the Civil War veteran and explorer John Wesley Powell set out to explore a region "scarcely better known than Atlantis," the Colorado River and its canyon systems from Utah to Arizona. Over the course of 99 days, Powell with a rag-tag group of nine men and four clumsy boats traveled 1,000 miles through nearly 500 rapids to become the first Europeans to run the waters of the Grand Canyon. This book tells their story.

Author Stephen Plog takes us on a journey through the southwestern states of America, where culture has fluxed and flowed within recent centuries. This work takes an in-depth look at the land and its history, as well as its present communities of Native Americans.

This anthology brings together accounts from both poets, travelers, writers, and most importantly, those who have called this vast land, "home." These varying perspectives shed unparalleled light on the majestic and alluring nature of the Grand Canyon throughout history.

The Colorado is the world's most regulated river, providing power and water to more than 25 million people. Without its waters it would be necessary to abandon much of the American Southwest. That the Colorado is the source of life for this region makes it all the more tragic that by the time it approaches its final destination it has been reduced to a trickle, its delta dry and deserted. In this blend of history, science, and personal reflection, we learn the story of America's Nile, how it once flowed freely and how human intervention has left it near exhaustion. And yet the author finds and describes the splendor of the Colorado remaining in the river's wild rapids, quiet pools, and sweeping canyons.

This work describes the process by which the majestic rock formations of Rainbow Bridge and Monument Valley have been understood by people of European descent. Long sacred to the resident Navajo, this region was reimagined in the early 1900s by visiting archaeologists, authors (such as Zane Grey, an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania) and others who sought freedom from the contemporary world and, in the process, erased the Navajo presence. This view of the landscape culminated in filmmaker John Ford’s use of Monument Valley as the setting for his epic Westerns and, later, in the efforts of environmentalists to set aside Rainbow Bridge as a remnant of nature ‘untainted’ by modernization.

Thousands of years ago, before European settlers came to America, the Ancestral Puebloans lived amongst the Southwestern United States. One day, however, with sudden urgency and reasoning still unbeknownst to current researchers, they left. What remained in the abandoned communities of the Puebloans was inspiring--artwork, artifacts, and relics which continue to be discovered. Author David Roberts takes us on an adventure through this "lost world" as he explores the many possibilities for the Puebloans' migration, and the life that is the present Southwest.

Incredible insight into the renowned Zion Canyon, told through Michael Plyler's stunning photography, and Greer Chesher's mesmerizing and honest account of this Southwestern frontier.