Frog Mountain Blues [Paperback]

Charles Bowden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1994

Called "Frog Mountain" by native Tohono O'odham people, the Santa Catalina Mountains offer the citizens of Tucson a wilderness in their own backyard. Over the years it has attracted treasure hunters and entrepreneurs; today recreational facilities dot its summits while resorts and housing development creep up its foothills and into its canyons. Charles Bowden and Jack Dykinga have hiked the Catalinas for years and bring to this book not only a love for the land but the experiences of others who have "lived the mountain." Frog Mountain Blues contrasts the mystery and power of this majestic range with its fragility, and cautions us that this unique wilderness could easily be lost through overuse. By showing the capacity of society to whittle away a whole mountain in pursuit of a "better life," Bowden and Dykinga impress upon us the need for an urbanized society to have wilderness close at hand—both as a retreat from its own insanity and as a reminder of the natural world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is one of the finest books on ecology in this decade, for it delineates the creeping environmental degradation that occurs when a boomtown pushes toward a wilderness. Bowden, author of Blue Desert, here explores the Santa Catalina Mountains (declared a Reserve in 1902) just outside of Tucson, Ariz., where he has lived for more than 40 years. Today, he writes, the city is "a living, crawling thing probing the desert with subdivisions, roads and machines." The chronology runs like this: mining claims, ranches, a sawmill, summer cabins and camps, an inn, a paved highway in 1950, followed by radar towers and observatories on the mountain tops. There was further development: the Forest Service approved removal of an ancient stand of Douglas fir for a ski run; in 1984, bulldozers mowed down huge mesquite stands to widen the highway; the Forest Service recorded 1.3 million recreation visitors. Meanwhile, notes Bowden, hotels and foothill homes peddle natural splendor even as they destroy it. He makes an eloquent plea to "get the cattle, mines, houses, roads, ski runs, golf courses and towers off the range." He reminds us that the Catalinas are just a small part of the worldwide assault on wilderness areas. His narrative is admirably supported by Dykinga's dramatic photographs.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Frog Mountain is the name the native people gave the highest peak in Arizona's Santa Catalina Mountains. In this set of seven essays, Bowden elegizes this endangered wilderness area, and describes the recent developmentsroads, ski lodges, ATV trailsthat have degraded the mountains. He believes in preserving the wilderness, insisting that there be no encroachment into remaining wild areas. Some of the writing is startling in its descriptive power and imagery, and the chapter "Frog Mountain" is an elegant defense of the preservationist point of view. The many photographs nicely complement Bowden's text. But overall the book is uneven. Suitable for regional and comprehensive collections. Randy Dykhuis, Grace A. Dow Memorial Lib., Midland, Mich.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 165 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (July 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816515018
• ISBN-13: 978-0816515011
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,579,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We Need These Blues, April 26, 2009

By 

jd103 (Yellowstone) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frog Mountain Blues (Paperback)

This is a great little book about a place I've never been to and don't ever plan to visit--but it's a place which is everywhere, all around the country, and which we can all relate to. In this case, the book's about Tucson and more specifically, the nearby mountains and how they've been "developed" as human population and technology have increased.

Bowden offers us glimpses of local history from the 19th and 20th centuries mixed with his own experiences hiking there and remembrances of his boyhood in the upper Midwest. The many photos provide examples of both beauty and ugliness.

All of that is interesting enough but the book really hits its peak when he writes with passion about how he feels about our connection with and respect for (or more commonly the lack of it) the natural world. His "unrealistic" vision of the future is what needs to happen, and what will happen--the only questions are the means and the time frame, not the end.

Excellent book--I read a library copy, but I'll be buying one for myself.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true adventure... Past to present to past to future, July 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Frog Mountain Blues (Hardcover)

All you ever wanted to know about the Catalina Mountains and the people who braved them. Bowden has a way with words to capture your interests--even through the historical factual info. Aldo would be proud of him