Customer Reviews

Stone Crusade: A Historical Guide to Bouldering in America (The American Alpine Book Series)

5 star:		(6)
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It reads as a guidebook, a history, and as literature. Sherman writes with surprising grace and introspection about the sport. Nice profiles of the locals at different areas, too. And I was relieved to see no reference to the finest, and apparently still secret, problem at Carderock, MD.

This book is fantastic. If you like bouldering and John Sherman's humorous tales you will enjoy this book.

The SOFT COVER BINDING FALLS APART after one or two openings. Of three people I know with the soft cover, all three have fallen apart. BUY THE HARD COVER VERSION!

Stone Crusade is THE book of bouldering and the history of the sport in the USA. John Sherman's witty and irreverent writing style and his artistic photographic skill capture the true feeling of the sport across the entire country. A guide book, history lesson, and entertainment all rolled into one. You will want to hit the road on your own Stone Crusade.

I have used this book many times to find bouldering areas. I have also found that it gets me to the boulders easier then the published guide. This book has a lot of great history on bouldering in the United States, the people who started it all and which areas they had the most influence on. It is like Rock And Road for bouldering only better.

This is one of those guidebooks you can't stop reading. Covering more than locations to climb at. This guide/book is a historical outline for bouldering in America. John Sherman the "Verm" really did a good job on this book. If you don't own Stone Crusade, you're not a hard core bouldering fanatic.
As for the binding. My paperback version is not falling apart like other's report. But I take care of my book and I don't stuff it in a backpack or crash pad or boulder with it on a rainy day. This is a large guidebook that should stay at home, in your car or should be placed in a guidebook binder.

Sherman wrote a great book here that is entertaining even to those, like me, who just don't see what the fuss over bouldering is all about. As a history on how an aspect of climbing initially became what it is, this really is good stuff- well written and entertaining.