Four Corners: History, Land, and People of the Desert Southwest [Paperback]

Kenneth A. Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 1996

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With its spectacular ancient rock formations, high plateaus and desert valleys, its Native American multistory cliff dwellings, its confluence of Mormon, Spanish, Navajo, Ute, Anglo and other cultures, the Four Corners region?the intersection of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah?is a world unto itself. Nature writer Brown (Cycles of Rock and Water) takes readers on a wondrous odyssey through this sparsely inhabited region in a seamless mix of travelogue, geology, biology and history. He visits the hanging gardens and alcove pine forests hidden in Utah's canyons; takes us into lava fields near the Zuni Mountains; and joins an archeological dig of an ancient village in New Mexico built by Archaic hunters and gatherers perhaps 7000 years ago. We stumble upon rock paintings depicting giant, ghostlike figures and tour pueblos of several hundred rooms built by the Anasazi, a sophisticated people who abandoned their homes some 600 years ago. Brown's reports on Arizona Hopi struggling to preserve traditional ways, on a Spanish village cooperative in New Mexico and on geophysicists' mapping of the Colorado Plateau's paleomagnetic fields inspire awe and reverence for the earth.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

A fascinating, eloquent study of the ancient people and terrain of the dramatic high rock plains of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, from the author of Cycles of Rock and Water. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1st edition (September 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060927593
• ISBN-13: 978-0060927592
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Geology > Specific Locations

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eloquent, detailed overview of the Colorado Plateau, October 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Four Corners: History, Land, and People of the Desert Southwest (Paperback)

This book deserves a less prosaic name. With an engaging writing style, Kenneth Brown provides a knowledgeable and highly readable introduction to the natural and human history of the Colorado Plateau, including the geology, forests and biological life zones, and the Anasazi, Pueblo, Navajo, Spanish, Mormon, and recent Anglo influences. I'd highly recommend Four Corners to anyone with an interest in this fascinating region.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Four Corners, May 30, 2002

By 

Michael Shea "Cancer Doc" (Phoenix, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Four Corners: History, Land, and People of the Desert Southwest (Paperback)

As a native of Utah and a student of the geology and natural history of the Colorado Plateau, this is without a doubt the best available summary of the fascinating heritage of the Four Corners region. I've read the paperback edition from front to back twice and parts of it three times. I recently managed to find a copy in hard back in excellent condition that I've added to my collection of keepers, and I'll read it again before I make my next trip to southern Utah. It astonishes me that I have yet to find this book at any of the national park bookstores. This book is very highly recommended for anyone with an interest in or planning to visit the most remarkable region of the continental United States. It's a great introduction to so many facets of this awesome area! In my opinion, it communicates the flavor of the country as well as John Wesley Powell's classic documentary of the first formal exploration of the Colorado River. Don't miss this one.

Michael Shea, MD

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable book on the Land. the People and Its Mysteries, July 22, 2007

By 

Daniel Hurley (Chesapeake, VA.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Four Corners: History, Land, and People of the Desert Southwest (Paperback)

If anyone has been to the Four Corners area, particularly the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, you will appreciate the author who takes you well beyond those more obviously known pleasures and takes you into more remote and attrarctive parts of the large four corners area giving the reader an introduction to geology while explaing in the initial chapyers how the land and continent was formed. The books goes on to discuss each area, its rock formations including mountains, plateaus and valleys and the vegetation that makes each area unique. The author includes interviews with numerous specialists throughout the book along his own personal journey through these ares that he hikes and camps and spends time in some very remote areas. His discussion of the people that once lived on the land and the ones that currently do provides a human linkage to present day. The mystery of the Anasazi is quite fascinating as these ancient cliff dwellers disappaered around 1400 AD but may have become part of the present day Hopi tribe. The description of their cliff like fortess dwellings and the archelogical studies is one of the most interestiung parts of the book. Why did they live along a cliffs in large communities and what happened to them? The book is not a quick read but one that deserves patience to appreciate the indepth descrptions that Brown provides. The only downturn, which is very slight, is that the author has little tolerance for tourists that in his opinion, along with the specialist he meets, strongly feel that tourists overwhelm these sensitive sites. However, for one who loves to travel these wonderful places with great respect for the sensitivity of the environment, we must all do our part to try to rein in those few that unfortunatey create a negative impact no matter where they visit or live.