Customer Reviews

Great White Fathers: The True Story of Gutzon Borglum and His Obsessive Quest to Create the Mt. Rushmore National Monument

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Gutzon Borglum's name is hardly a household word, but every American knows his greatest work. He was the sculptor that put the faces on Mount Rushmore National Memorial. The enormous heads in the South Dakota rock look calmly out to the great beyond, almost as if they were natural formations. Their conception and completion were far from calm, however, and in _Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore_ (PublicAffairs), John Taliaferro has told the tumultuous story of Borglum's life and life work, as well as the turbulent history of the mountain itself.

Borglum was a bigger than life figure who insisted on puffing himself up any way he could. He insisted that he was the American Phidias, and like many such supremely confident people, he was torn by the idea that others were plotting against him. He returned from art training in Europe to find that his nation was enthusiastic about commemorative sculpture, and he began entering competitions for such things as the design for the memorial to Ulysses S. Grant. He did not win that one, and groused that the jury suspected his entry could not have been made by an American, so they disqualified it. He had similar excuses and similar paranoia in many of his failed endeavors. The Daughters of the American Confederacy approached him in 1914 to carve a memorial on the side of Stone Mountain in Georgia. He signed on to do the work, which the Ku Klux Klan supported financially. And Borglum supported the Klan. He did not become an officially robed member of the organization, but he attended its rallies and supported its aims. He was fired from the job, but the boosters who hired him for South Dakota didn't know about any such problems. He worked for it for decades, dying of cancer in 1941, whereupon Congress declared the monument finished.

Taliaferro has not just written a biography of Borglum, and a fascinating history of the big project, but also a history of the mountain. He includes the Indian Wars of the 1870s, the shameful violations of treaties made with the Indians, and the labor to match the faces of the great white fathers with an even bigger sculpture of Crazy Horse on a nearby mountain. He covers the demonstrations and protests that have been centered at Rushmore in recent decades. The Lakota tribe frequented the Rushmore mountain for centuries for specific ritual purposes, and it is not surprising that they should feel a loss from when the mountain was in its natural state. Taliaferro even includes a description of a recent biker festival, and of course a few pages about Hitchcock's use of the setting in _North by Northwest_. His book even includes reports of the campaigns to have Ronald Reagan added to the mountain, and Elvis Presley, and the most longstanding and fervent campaign, that for Susan B. Anthony. It is an entertaining historic, geologic, and artistic tour.

The Editorial Review above is correct in saying "Taliaferro discusses every conceivable aspect of the monument." The book serves as a biography of sculptor Gutzon Borglum, giving us chapters about his early life and other sculptures prior to Mt. Rushmore. There are chapters devoted to the local Indians and President Coolidge's very brief visit as well. If it has anything to do with the history of Mt. Rushmore, it's in this book. Lucky for us, Taliaferro is skilful writer/historian. This book is never dull or pedantic; it's always fascinating and entertaining. With books like this, I sometimes find myself skipping forward over the slow parts. "Great White Fathers," like Taliaferro's biography of Edgar Rice Burroughs, "Tarzan Forever", contains no slow parts.

Author John Taliaferro has provided us with an interesting and controversial history of Mount Rushmore. The first part of the book is a general history of the area encompassed by the Great Sioux Reservation of which the Black Hills of South Dakota is included. I found this general history to be a good summary of the conflict between the Native Americans and the American government. During the early 1920's South Dakota historian Doane Robinson wanted a monument of significance in the central part of the country for Americans to visit. Enter Gutzon Borglum who was running into difficulties on his Stone Mountain project in Georgia. The author delves into the strengths and weakness of Borglum as a man and as a sculptor. The project proved to be overly ambitious and ended up being a scaled down version of what was originally intended. The author provides us with numerous tidbits of information as to why the four individuals were chosen to be enshrined and the difficulties in carving their faces. Since Mount Rushmore is on land claimed by the Native Americans, part of the book includes the controversy between what some view as a monument to American democracy while others view it as honoring four individuals who have poor historical dealings with Native Americans. Depending on your point of view Mount Rushmore is either a sight for sore eyes or an eyesore. The book, while controversial, is an interesting read. I did find one mistake. On page 43 the author states the Wounded Knee massacre took place on December 28, 1890. The actual date was December 29, 1890. If you are interested in the history of the Black Hills of South Dakota and Mount Rushmore I would recommend it to you as a book I'm sure you would enjoy.

This is a book worth seeking out for those interested in the history of the Black Hills, the American west and in the story of how this unique and monumental sculpture came to be.

Taliaferro will be known by some for his fine biography of cowboy artist Charlie Russell, but this time his main subject, the great Gutzon Borglum, whom some have compared to Rodin, is a much less likeable artist. He turns on his friends, is impossible to work with, and scapegoats with racist and antisemitic prejudices (he was an active member of the revitalized Klan) when things don't go his way. Nevertheless, as an artist he was brilliant, and Taliaferro tells his story, not just of the carving of Mt. Rushmore, but of Stone Mountain in Georgia and other controversial but masterful sculptures, particularly of Lincoln.

Borglum (1867-1941) knew Teddy Roosevelt, championing him as a westerner deserving of his place on Mount Rushmore with Washington, Jefferson, and the Lincoln. He also knew the Wright Brothers, Lindbergh, Helen Keller, FDR, Woodrow Wilson, Coolidge, Frank Lloyd Wright, and other notables of his time, and was an inveterate social climber, and Taliaferro tells of these relationships. Taliaferro writes about the attempts to place a fifth face on the mountain, be it Susan B. Anthony, Crazy Horse, or Ronald Reagan. The book is also about our perception of various presidents. He also writes with sensitivity and insight, but not with sentimentality, about the Native Americans in the Black Hills, bringing to the story Custer, Hickok, Wounded Knee, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, the AIM movement, others, and the fight over the federal government's siezing of land promised eternally to the Sioux. It's often an ugly, if compelling story.

In addition to being an excellent biography of Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, this book is also a fine examination of the South Dakotan monument itself. Borglum was a difficult artist: conceited, overly opinionated, and confrontational. Early in his career he developed a pattern of behavior that would mark most of his years as an artist: he would "demand control, ruffle feathers, allege conspiracy, exaggerate evil, throw down the gauntlet, burn the bridge - and lastly, foul the nest." He often criticized publicly (and harshly) the works of other sculptors, especially if they were chosen over his own works in competitions or commissions. But his artistic vision was large and his ability to carve beauty out of mountainsides unmatched. Taliaferro traces Borglum's life, including the time during the 1920s while working on Stone Mountain near Atlanta when he was a member of the KKK - often glossed over by others dealing with the artist's career (the NPS at Mt. Rushmore, for example). And Taliaferro also writes about the monument after Borglum's death, including when Alfred Hitchcock used the monument in "North By Nothwest" and the Sioux Indian protests over Black Hills land ownership during the early 1970s. Taliaferro is an excellent writer, and his final chapter which involves an account of an Independence Day 2001 re-visit he made to the monument is an engaging conclusion to this interesting book. Recommended.

A compelling description of a man's motivation, relationships, and excessive personality, it almost reads like a novel. And what detail! The additional insights into other historical figures (including characters like Calvin Coolidge) really made it not just a book about Borglum or Rushmore (or Stone Mountain) but an insider's look at a whole period of American history.

Surprise your favorite non-fiction buff with this one from off the beaten path.

In short, the best book you will read on the subject. The authors' knowledge of sculptors, and the politics involved in the awarding of commissions and art leagues is indispensable to any person researching this impressive time in American art history.
Gutzon Borglum was far from perfect. His motives often far from pure- but no one can doubt his tenacity and talent.

This book is VERY detailed. That makes it a long read but none the less it is worth the time and patience.
Well done.

This book is a biography of a man and place.

The man is the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, the place Mt Rushmore,arguably America's greatest monument and certainly the country's most unique one.

John Taliaferro does a great job in researching the colourful history of Borglum, born to the second wife of a Mormon polygamist, later a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan,and a man with access to every president from TR to FDR.

Brilliant but irascible, Borglum typified the artistic temperament and Taliaferro concentrates on him to a greater extent than another excellent 2002 book on the same subject by Jesse Larner (Mt Rushmore: An Icon Reconsidered).

The irony that this great "Shrine of Democracy" has been built on stolen lands does not escape the author's attention and he details the Indian view. Contrary to some reviewers I do not think this is overdone. History is about conflict and competing opinions and no country, regardless of how great, enjoys a spotless past. As a conservative I consider the Indian criticism has validity.

Taliaferro captures the excitement and passions involved in the creation of this great monument and the history of the Black Hills generally, something that continues to fascinate this reviewer who lives as far away from South Dakota as is possible while still remaining on the same planet.

Having just finished a third book on the monument - by historian Gilbert Fite (whose 1952 book is the best in detailing the politics and construction difficulties of Rushmore) - gives added appreciation to this part of American history.

Reading Taliaferro's book, or the other two mentioned, is a rewarding experience and will enhance any planned visit to Mt Rushmore - something this reviewer did in October 2001 and hopefully will do again.

John Taliaferro's "Great White Fathers" is an interesting, if somewhat confused book. It can't decide whether it wants to be a straight historical account of the creation of Mount Rushmore or a piece of modern "travel" writing, in which the author describes his subject as part of the backdrop for his own adventures. Generally, the historical parts work better than the travel parts, and at over 400 pages the book is definately too long for its subject matter.

That said, Taliaferro is a good writer, though he occasionally makes rather glaring factual errors (like placing the year that the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke as 1997 instead of 1998). He also dwells a too much on issues like the American Indian view of Rushmore being placed in the middle of the Sioux tribe's "ancesteral homeland." In this he comes off like a liberal who despises everything Rushmore stands for even while professing to admire it as a monument.

The book is at its best when describing the history of the monument itself and the biography of its creator, the volatile and controversial sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Borglum was full of paradoxes, for example his hero was Abraham Lincoln and he was a confidant of Theodore Roosevelt, and yet he was a ardent supporter of the Ku Klux Klan. Taliaferro spends the first 200 pages of the book describing Borglum's life and the contemporary history of America at that time before he even gets to the construction of Rushmore. There may bee too much historical background, but it is nonetheless a compelling story.

Overall, an insteresting and informative book that nevertheless contains a number of flaws.