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.
- ISBN10 0393050726
- ISBN13 9780393050721
- Publish Date 12 August 2004
- Publish Status Inactive
- Out of Print 23 August 2012
- Publish Country US
- Imprint WW Norton & Co
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 288
- Language English