If it were drained, we'd replace one group of mourners with another. It is Farmer's accomplishment in this extensively illustrated work to make both attitudes comprehensible to the reader, and to provide valuable historical context as well. As visitors trooped to Rainbow Bridge over difficult trails into Glen Canyon, they created a cult of the wild that was continuously reconstituted and redefined even as the region became more accessible. It is the careful explication of these multiple, successive, and conflicting meanings of the Glen Canyon landscape that distinguishes Farmer's study. For him, the story does not end in simple defeat with the creation of Lake Powell.
Transitions are sometimes rough, and the logic of some sections is unclear.
Farmer's work is a genuine contribution to the field of landscape and environmental history, however. 10 C. Elizabeth Raymond University of Nevada Reno, Nevada Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.