Hell Creek, Montana: America's Key to the Prehistoric Past (Hardcover)

by Dr. Lowell Dingus (Author) "I've been on the road from Berkeley for three long days and, as I head out of Jordan on the last stretch of pavement, I..." (more)
Key Phrases: bison hunt, large dinosaurs, impact hypothesis, Hell Creek, Sitting Bull, Native Americans (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Readers may be confused by the title of this book by paleontologist Dingus (The Mistaken Extinction), which doesn't do justice to his story: an occasionally lyrical and meditative history of Montana's Badlands, a desolate region that he has clearly come to love during his paleontological expeditions. The rugged Badlands of east-central Montana stretch for more than 100 miles along the south bank of the Missouri River. The area hasn't always been a giant's playground of buttes and coulees and inhospitable ravines. Seventy million years ago T. rex chased its prey through a luxuriant floodplain that covered the area. The first skeletal T. rex remains were discovered here, and the most complete specimen before the $7 million Sue was found on a local ranch by an amateur bone hunter in the 1960s. Meriwether Clark became the first fossil hunter of the American West when he picked up a dinosaur bone a little farther upriver on the Corps of Discovery's journey to the Pacific. The residents of the Badlands town of Jordan have seen their share of excitement more recently: in 1996 right-wing extremists called the Freemen engaged the FBI in a standoff that attracted national media attention. Given its wide range, this book should attract readers of history and lovers of the American West in addition to dinosaur junkies. 15 b&w photos.
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Review
"Lowell Dingus tells the saga of the discovery of the first specimen ever found of Tyrannosaurus rex, probably the world's most famous fossil. But he brings a whole lot more to the story, as no other place captures the essence of the history of the American West better than Hell Creek, Montana. A great read about a fantastic piece of American real estate!"
- Dr. Niles Eldredge, Curator of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History

"There are lots of dinosaur books, yet few of these place the great discoveries in a historical context. Here Lowell Dingus tells us the story of the events that led to some of the great dinosaur discoveries of all time. Interwoven with these stories is a compelling, introspective personal narrative of how happenings in this remote part of Montana have and continue to be a big part of the American scene."
--Dr. Mark A. Norell, Chairman and Curator, Department of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History
-- Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (July 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312313934
• ISBN-13: 978-0312313937
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #660,028 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars History of a town in Montana, June 15, 2009

By	N. Garner - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A third of the book is about dinosaur hunting in the Hell Creek area of Mt; the rest is a paleontologist's take on Lewis & Clark, Custer's last stand, the Montana Freemen, and the future of the area. The most interesting parts were the chapters about Harley Garbani, a fossil-hunter who dug up multiple T. rex's in the area and a personal friend of the author, and the K-T extinction controversy, in which Dingus participated. Dingus clearly loves the area, but if your interest is the dinosaurs of Montana, this book is probably not for you. Also, Dingus has covered the K-T extinction in a separate book.

Not helping is that the language is unnecessarily complex. The text is studded with five dollar words, and I don't mean technical ones. Actually, more technical terms would have been welcome.